Black Sheep
by itneverends
Summary: Karida Talon-Lestrange is starting her fifth year at Hogwarts, along with the famous trio and Draco Malfoy. As she begins her new year at Hogwarts, she starts to feel uncomfortable with where the Hat sorted her. ON TEMPORARY HIATUS :
1. The Hogwarts Express

Chapter I

Dmitri Lestrange wearily walked with his daughter down to King's Cross Station from the pub into which they had apparated. He hadn't bothered putting on muggle clothing, as muggles never seemed to notice anything anyway. His daughter, however, was more comfortable wearing denim and an unmarked gray sweatshirt. She liked to go unnoticed. He decided this was better for her anyways.

He didn't want her to be recognized by any shady characters before she was safe at school.

The summer had been full of Lestrange checking the _Daily Prophet_ constantly, to make sure the mass breakouts he was expecting hadn't happened yet. For now he and his daughter were safe. But he wasn't naïve enough to believe it would last for very long.

No words were exchanged between the pair in the ten minutes it took to walk to the busy station. The place was packed with muggles, all ready to get onto their trains for their morning commute. The man dressed in flowing black got some double-takes as the pair whisked by, but his daughter blended in beautifully.

Lestrange kept shooting glances over his shoulder, as if to make sure no one was following or had seen him. This was ironic, as almost all the muggles near him were giving him nasty, judging looks; as if he was crazy for wearing his eccentric clothing in their presence.

He judged these muggles straight back, however, as they were the naïve ones. They had no idea how much danger they would be in soon enough.

It was a half an hour before eleven o'clock on September first. Lestrange slowed down his brisk jaunt as he came to platform 9. After only the slightest of pauses, both father and daughter strode into the brick barrier between platforms 9 and 10 as casually as if it was only a curtain. But a curtain it might have been, as both disappeared into it, and reappeared in what we can guess to be the other side, marked by a sign that announced it as platform 9 ¾. As they had walked through, a crowd had passed the barrier and the pair had gone unnoticed by the muggles who had stared at them moments before.

Almost as soon as they had arrived, Lestrange curtly nodded to his daughter, and lumbered off back through the barrier, as if he was nervous someone would see him on the platform. Karida sighed as she watched her father dissolve into the brick, and turned off to find her bags that had been delivered prior to their arrival.

After scanning the platform for a while (which was difficult because of all of the bustling people in assorted color clothing), she found an area of unclaimed luggage. Karida awkwardly walked through the rows of baggage and found her trunk, marked with her family crest. She wanted to rip it off. She looked around again and found an unused trolley, and rolled it over to her trunk to load it on. The other side was emblazoned with her house crest. That she could do with ripping off as well.

It was quarter till eleven when Karida finally got moving, and picked a random door of the train to board. On her way toward it, she had to steer her trolley clear of a big black dog that looked like it was enjoying the attention of some first years, who were pointing out of their windows at him. She managed to reach the door without tipping the trolley like she had last year, and had some help from a conductor with her heavy trunk. The fifth-year was weighted heavily with her bag, and didn't want to go very much farther with it. She settled for the first empty compartment.

It was only after sitting down that she realized, with a jolt, that the compartment was indeed _not_ empty. A Ravenclaw girl, by the looks of her robes, was reading a magazine upside down in the corner. Karida could tell why she had not realized the compartment was taken, as so far the girl had not looked up to ask what she was doing there.

After a couple of long minutes of feeling awkward and not knowing what to do in this situation, Karida decided it would be best to leave this girl alone. That way she didn't have to start any small-talk conversations. She had just started to get up and pull her trunk out from under the seat when an airy voice wafted from behind the magazine and stopped her.

"I don't mind, you know," it said. Her magazine slowly dropped an inch, revealing two slightly protuberant blue eyes. "Nargles don't like it when there are too many people. They're sure to be kept away now."

Karida had never heard of nargles before, but was unfazed. The upside-down magazine gave her somewhat of a hint of what this girl might be like. Karida still did not know how to reply to this, however. Luckily, the girl had saved her the trouble by retreating quickly back behind her magazine.

Both girls were silent for another few minutes – though it seemed to Karida that the girl wasn't straining for some way to start a conversation like she was. She stood up and started to drag her case out again, when a clumsy Gryffindor in her year, Longbottom, almost stumbled into their compartment with some sort of cactus.

The awkward boy took one look at Karida and seemed to recognize her from around school – as she had some classes with the Gryffindors as well as her own house. He retreated a little, and his eyes shifted to the floor. His gaze fell upon her family emblem, and it seemed to frighten him even more. He coughed to give the pretense of just accidentally stumbling in, and backed out as quickly as he had come.

Karida waited another moment before leaving to find another compartment, to make sure she didn't meet Longbottom again. She slid open the door, and lugged her trunk farther away from the entrance she'd come down. She was so focused on holding her increasingly heavy bag that she didn't notice until after the fact that Harry Potter and the Weasley girl had to squeeze past her. After what seemed like hours with her luggage that was starting to give her calluses, Karida slid into a seat of an empty compartment, exhausted.

Only a couple minutes after the train started moving, Karida became bored. Deciding she would have to go change later anyway, Karida pulled out her trunk and opened it to get out her uniform. After putting the trunk prominently on the seat to show its occupancy (and leaving a lock on it), she left to the bathroom to get into her robes.

She turned right from her compartment back down the way she'd come. Some horrid smell was filling the hallway, and after a few more paces Karida saw her previous compartment was the source. Potter, Weasley, Longbottom, and the Ravenclaw girl were in it, and were all covered in some green substance. So it was a good thing she'd moved, after all.

When she reached the bathroom, Karida realized it had not been a bad idea. The usually long line of girls queuing up wasn't there at this point in the trip. In no time at all, she was in the cramped bathroom herself, doing a funny sort of hop to get out of her muggle jeans. She pulled on the green and silver robes ruefully and stared blankly in the foggy mirror to fasten her tie. The thought of being in Slytherin for another year didn't excite her.

Well, Karida thought, she knew she wouldn't have the bravery for Gryffindor. Conflict wasn't her fancy. She liked difficult charms, sure, but would prefer not to have to do any defensive spells anytime in real life. Although she couldn't exactly see Neville Longbottom fighting any Dark wizard without fear.

But she was smart! She could fit in in Ravenclaw! But her studies weren't that important to her, she realized... Of course she was extremely nervous for her O.W.L. year like anyone else, but during the past years Karida hadn't have worried about her grades too much. She wasn't a perfectionist. Though Granger wasn't in Ravenclaw, but Gryffindor instead…

As for Hufflepuff… She had never really gotten a chance to prove herself as a loyal friend. But Karida was sure if she had the chance she would stand by those closest to her.

Maybe she did fit in the most in Slytherin. She dreaded the thought. What she didn't understand was that she didn't give an enchanted pile of dragon droppings about blood status! Wasn't that what being Slytherin was mostly about? Sure she was a pureblood, but most of the time she was not proud of it.

As far as she was concerned, Karida didn't fit in anywhere. This scared her a little, and she stopped her train of thought quickly, and finished getting dressed.

After snatching her bundle of muggle clothes off of the floor, Karida pried open the bathroom door with difficulty. It was a bit jammed. The line of girls had already grown since she stepped in, and had to be careful to not step on anyone's foot.

Two innocent first-years were standing in line holding hands, and looking terrified. The train gave a sudden jolt and both of them whimpered and drew even closer to each other. Karida smiled down comfortingly at them, but both of their eyes widened and they turned away quickly.

Already somewhat used to this, Karida sighed and shrugged it off. After she got past the crowd of impatient girls, she came to the first compartment again. Potter and his friends had managed to get that green stuff off of them, but by the look on all of their (excluding the Ravenclaw's) faces, the smell might still be right under their noses. Another quick glance into the compartment explained why.

Draco Malfoy.

Karida groaned. She tried to sneak past him and his gang, but Crabbe and Goyle were practically blocking the hallway. Malfoy's little visit ended shortly after she'd arrived, however, and as his cronies stepped back to let him out, Karida tried to flee.

She didn't go unnoticed.

"Ah! Karida!"

Karida debated whether to just ignore him, but she decided it wasn't worth it, and spun on her heel to face him. "Malfoy." She muttered, appraising her classmate. The pale boy had grown at least another 3 centimeters since school had let out the last year, but he had the same pointed face as always. His shockingly bright blonde hair was not slicked back as it had been in her first and second year of knowing him, but falling forward onto his face. Any girl who didn't know his personality could definitely find Malfoy attractive. Karida regretted this bitterly.

"Not on a first-name basis, are we?" Malfoy said, pouting for a moment, and then switching back to his trademark smirk.

"Hardly." Karida squinted, eyeing Crabbe and Goyle wearily.

"Whatever." Malfoy grumbled, shrugging. He puffed out his chest to show off a gleaming prefect badge. Karida was hit by a pang of jealousy. Surely, Malfoy hadn't _really_ been made prefect? She supposed he would be the best choice over his two gargoyle friends, but Zabini was less troublesome than _Malfoy_. A badge had never arrived for Karida, and she wondered what she had ever done not to deserve it. Malfoy seemed to sense her prolonged silence and broke it.

"Oh, you see my _prefect_ badge, don't you? Isn't it wonderful? Now Potter and his friends will have to listen to me!" He noticed Karida withdraw a little. "Of course, I thought even Dumbledore would have enough sense to choose you as well, but Pansy already found me and showed me hers. Pity."

Though Karida agreed with this, she shrugged. "Less work for me, then."

Malfoy looked a bit put out that she didn't insult Pansy, but shook it off. "So… Have a good summer then?" He asked, obviously not reading Karida's signs of wanting to leave.

"Er… I've had better… What with You-Know-Who and all…"

"You talking about Potter's cock-and-bull story?" Malfoy sneered, absolute loathing marking his face. "You believe him?" He asked challengingly.

"Well I can't exactly say I don't, can I? And you can't either, you know it." Karida snapped back. She seemed to have touched a nerve, and as she saw the expression of disbelief on Malfoy's face grow, she couldn't help but smirk the smallest bit triumphantly.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" He growled in his most venomous voice that he usually only saved for Potter. Being easily six centimeters taller, Malfoy glared down at Karida, daring her to say more.

"You know what both of our fathers, actually all of our fathers," she motioned to Crabbe and Goyle, "have done, how they've been involved. You can't seriously tell me you father hasn't been acting strange, Malfoy?"

Crabbe and Goyle looked absolutely baffled behind him, and didn't seem to comprehend what was being exchanged at all. Malfoy continued to sneer, though with much less power than before. He scoffed, and abruptly walked forward past Karida. His gang noticed his movement a moment too late, and Karida had to step to the side to let them pass.

She sighed and followed them in the direction back to her compartment.

Malfoy was somewhat related, but not by blood. Her aunt Bellatrix was his aunt as well. If her father had told her about Lucius Malfoy's being one of You-Know-Who's supporters, Karida wondered how much Draco knew about her father.

After deciding Malfoy wouldn't be able to hold it against her anyways, Karida came back down to earth by nearly tripping over something.

What was her trunk doing in the middle of the hallway? She realized she had walked farther and faster than she had thought, and was already in front of her compartment, which didn't seem to be hers anymore. Gingerly picking up her trunk and setting it next to the door, Karida slid the glass open to compromise with whoever had stolen her seat.

The three seventh-year boys abruptly looked up from their hushed discussion and stared at Karida.

"Er…" she started, now that she was in the room not knowing what to say. "Was… Was my trunk here?"

One of the two gingers replied to her almost instantly. "It was. Wasn't it, Fred?"

"Of course, George!" The other popped in. Karida recognized them as the famous Weasley twins. Well, they weren't really famous in Slytherin… But their antics were well known everywhere. "We just needed a little elbow room, you know?" Fred said, stretching out onto his seat.

"Er…" Karida started.

"Did you need something?" the boy with dreadlocks sitting next to George asked accusingly.

"Er, no… I just… I was sitting here before and everywhere is full…"

"We passed Pansy Parkinson's compartment on the way here; it didn't look very full to me," Fred shrugged.

Karida's face fell. Pansy was one of her least favorite people in school. It didn't help that she had to share a dormitory with her year-round.

George sensed this, and stopped teasing with his brother and friend. "We just figured it was Malfoy's or something, we don't exactly have a problem throwing his belongings across the hall." With this, he stood up and took Karida's trunk from her, and stowed it into the overhead shelf. She hadn't been able to do this herself. Karida mumbled a thanks.

Fred stood up hesitantly. "So we're moving?" He raised his eyebrows skeptically. His brother shrugged.

"I guess we could get some Frankie First Years to move…" He looked Karida in the eye. "Honestly, I wouldn't want to sit near Parkinson either."

"That's true." Fred agreed. "Have you noticed? She looks almost like a bulldog, doesn't she?"

"R-really?" Karida murmured, and then felt her confidence grow and shrugged. "I thought she was more of a pug, personally…"

"That's it! We've been trying to name it for years…" George looked at Karida appraisingly, seemed to linger on her tie for a moment, and looked away and left the room. Fred followed close behind and Lee stood up grumpily and left, closing the door behind them.

After they had gone down the hall a bit, Karida let a grin wean across her face. She had herself two new favorite Gryffindors.

_Thanks for reading! It would mean a lot to me to leave a review :D_

_Constructive criticism is always welcome!_

**EDIT: I realized while writing the second chapter that Pansy is not the only girl Slytherin in her year that is mentioned, so I fixed that sentence. Not that big of a deal, I just wanted to make sure it tied together.**


	2. Thestrals  & Cucumber Salad

**Chapter II**

The rest of Karida's train ride went uninterrupted. She stared out of the clouded window and watched the hilly landscape blur by as she tried not to think about how this year was going to go. Even if she didn't crack under the pressure of the O.W.L.s, she would still have to see Malfoy. Every day.

She tried to clear her mind again as she saw the lights of Hogsmeade in the distance.

After the train had jolted to a stop, Karida stood up and tried to pull her trunk down from the overhead rack. She pulled on it a couple of times, and after once of it almost falling over the edge, she realized going at it this way was not very was only after staring at the trunk for a minute or two wondering how in the world she was going to remove it, that Karida remembered; she was a witch.

She drew out her slender ash wand, and muttered "_Locomotor trunk,_" and used it to direct the trunk to the floor. With a grunt, Karida heaved her luggage out of the door. Since she had taken long enough to get up, the crowds had died down and she was able to get off the train relatively quickly.

After she had put her trunk into the luggage pile, Karida joined the crowd leading away from the Hogwarts Express, looking around anxiously for people she wanted to avoid.

"First years line up over here, please!" An unfamiliar voice called from the side of the street. "All first years to me!" Sure enough, a stream of tiny first years was filtering towards a woman with a prominent chin, whom Karida remembered taught Care of Magical Creatures a few times.

She thought to herself as the eleven-year-olds milled by her that, of course, she couldn't have possibly been that small when she had first arrived at Hogwarts? The firsties seemed to shrink every year.

As Karida walked farther, she saw the carriages that would take all of the older students to the castle. The Ravenclaw girl she had met on the train passed by her, a tiny owl perched happily on her shoulder.

After some ducking and weaving through the crowd, Karida found an empty carriage and clambered into it. The front of the carriage was open, and she sat on the side where she could have a good view of the thestral pulling it. She had always been fond of the thestrals. Only after she got over the initial shock of them, of course.

As a first year she hadn't gone so far as to see the carriages, but at the beginning of her second year at Hogwarts she was startled by the skeletal creatures. Karida remembered how the other students walked past them casually, while she stood there, mouth agape. It was only after Malfoy had wondered out loud how the carriages were able to pull themselves that Karida realized the others couldn't see them.

She had written to her father about them that night, and he replied a week later. Of course, the curiosity had gotten to her before then, and she had visited the library. After reading up about the creatures, Karida was saddened that the thestrals were regarded to as beasts. She also felt less special after realizing that it was only because of her mother's death that she could see them.

Her reminiscing was interrupted when the carriage door swung open, revealing Pansy Parkinson. She barely seemed to notice Karida was there, and turned to call two other Slytherin girls over.

They all piled into the carriage coolly, and Karida watched them warily. None of the girls seemed to realize how uncomfortable she was. Millicent Bulstrode was rather bulky, and Karida had to give up most of her personal space to accommodate her. The carriage gave a little start as it began moving.

The girls were all quite noisy, and Karida wished silently that she could have shared the carriage with that Ravenclaw from the train. After everyone had gotten settled, she looked back from the window, and found herself facing Pansy. Her classmate had not seemed to change at all over the summer.

As soon as Karida had appraised her, she made to look out the window again.

Pansy, like Draco, was not attuned to her signals of not wanting to talk.

"We didn't think you were on the train," the girl smirked. "Of course when I patrolled the corridors during my _prefect_ duties with _Draco_," She paused for a minute as Daphne Greengrass giggled. "He told me he'd seen you."

Karida didn't know what to say to this, as it was merely a statement of fact. She nodded and scratched the back of her neck awkwardly.

Pansy eyed her suspiciously, but then turned to her other two friends. "Well, as I'm a prefect now, I suppose I'll be seeing rather more of Draco," she giggled in her annoyingly falsetto voice. Her friends 'ooh'-ed at her. Karida had to turn away to hide her grimace.

Again, Pansy read this body language incorrectly. "Oh, are you pouting? Thought you'd be made a prefect, did you?" She said, her voice dropping at least an octave.

Karida shrugged. She didn't want to instigate anything, much less let Pansy know she was jealous.

"Kneazle got your tongue, eh, Talon?" Pansy remarked, obviously thinking calling Karida by her last name would make her feel inferior.

"No. I just think Dumbledore didn't have much to choose from, in four Slytherins." Karida replied carefully.

"And what do you mean by that?" Pansy asked, glaring.

"That he probably thinks we're all the same." Karida admitted grimly. "Who knows, maybe he just wrote all of our names on pieces of parchment and stuck them into the Sorting Hat."

At this, the other girls quieted, shocked. Pansy looked at the floor, scowling.

The carriage shook once more as the thestral came to a halt in front of the gates. Karida knew better than to stand up first, and let the other three girls shuffle out before stepping out of the carriage herself. She paused, lightly stroking the thestral, allowing the other Slytherins to get a decent length ahead before following them.

It was only after stepping into the warm Entrance Hall when Karida noticed how cold she had been. She stomped some of the mud off of her boots and proceeded into the Great Hall, to sit at the Slytherin table. After picking her spot carefully, she slid in next to two second-years, who didn't draw back at all.

Karida stared up into the beautifully lit ceiling, which had always been one of her favorite features of Hogwarts. It was a cloudy night, so the stars were shrouded and she got bored quickly. Feeling awkward, Karida fiddled with her silverware for a minute before the first years came shuffling down the aisle, led by Professor McGonagall.

Each of the tiny new pupils looked as scared as the one before him. Karida remembered the feeling of standing in front of the entire school, and kept hoping to that day that she would never feel that way again.

McGonagall set the Sorting Hat down on top of the stool she had been carrying, and stepped away. The decrepit hat began to sing; Karida let her thoughts wander a bit, but she couldn't help hearing the end. The whole room went even more silent than it had been at that point.

_And now the Sorting Hat is here_

_And you all know the score:_

_I sort you into Houses _

_Because that is what I'm for,_

_But this year I'll go further,_

_Listen closely to my song:_

_Though condemned I am to split you_

_Still I worry that it's wrong,_

_Though I must fulfill my duty_

_And must quarter every year_

_Still I wonder whether sorting_

_May not bring the end I fear._

_Oh, know the perils, read the signs,_

_The warning history shows,_

_For our Hogwarts is in danger_

_From external, deadly foes_

_And we must unite inside her_

_Or we'll crumble from within_

_I have told you, I have warned you…_

_Let the Sorting now begin._

There was an unmistakable confusion within the applause that followed the song. Karida thought hurriedly of the previous four poems the Hat had sung for the school, but couldn't think of any that gave a warning as this one had.

"_We must unite inside her_"? Karida snorted. _Like that's easy when you're in Slytherin and everyone hates your guts. _She thought bitterly. _Hell, even other Slytherins hate your guts. _

Her mind was still buzzing with the crowd as the Sorting progressed. Soon, however, the last girl standing had timidly stepped her way over to the Hufflepuff table. Dumbledore stood up to greet the students and faculty. Karida noticed her stomach growling, and hoped that he would continue his tradition of letting everyone have dinner before starting a lengthy speech.

"To our newcomers, welcome!" Dumbledore's voice was as powerful as ever, silencing the few that were still whispering after he stood up. "To our old hands – welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!" And with that, he sat down to appraise the food that had appeared out of nowhere onto his plate.

While the hall around her erupted with the clatters of plates and excited voices telling stories about the summer holidays, Karida stared disappointedly at the dishes in front of her.

Halibut. A salad with cucumbers. And what looked and smelled like a spicy curry dish.

Her lip curled as the scent of the fish starting wafted toward her.

As the hall had filled up, Slytherins were next to her on all sides, so if Karida wanted anything else, she'd have to ask. Or just grab, as most students at her table were doing. None of the pupils around her were ones she knew, and a group of seventh-years had replaced the second-years next to her.

Looking down the table, Karida found there was a small tray of spaghetti being passed around near her. She had almost started to ask, when the boy next to her took the last of it.

As she was starving, Karida cast around for any other choices, to no avail. Having a very delicate tongue to spice and no taste whatsoever for seafood, the salad looked like her best option. She shoveled it onto her plate, hoping that either something better would come her way, or that there might be some very filling desserts.

While eating the salad, Karida eavesdropped on the seventh-years talking about the upcoming Quidditch season. They were as arrogant as any other athletes, being quite sure that they were a shoe-in for the cup. Their conversation became very dull, very fast.

Since she was on the side of the Slytherin table facing the rest of the hall, Karida had a good view of the students at other tables. Being extremely sneaky so no one would notice, she watched the Gryffindors laughing together with a twinge of jealousy. Usually, the only laughing at the Slytherin table was at someone else's expense.

Malfoy's voice rung out from down the table, where he seemed to be recounting his summer in a very dramatic fashion. She looked away before he could notice her paying attention.

Karida set her fork down and leaned back from the table, having her fill of the bland dish. As she watched, the cucumber pieces she had picked out vanished, and an astonishing array of desserts appeared on the table instead. Still very hungry, Karida almost lunged for the peach cobbler, and scooped herself a large portion before setting it down and watching the greedy and hungry students dive down on it.

After she had finished her helping, Karida started to plot how she would get out of the Great Hall. She was much too tired to go very quickly, but she wanted to get into bed and be asleep before Pansy started snoring.

She didn't have very much time to think, however, as Dumbledore stood once again, and stepped up to his ornate podium. "Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast," Karida mumbled her disagreement. "I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," Dumbledore continued, smiling brightly to his school.

He listed off the same announcements that came every year; how the Forbidden Forest was out of bounds, no magic in the corridors, and of course, any of Filch's extra (albeit ignored) rules.

"We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to be welcoming back Professor Grubbly-Plank," the woman who had lead the first-years in stood up. "Who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher." He gestured to a very fat woman, and paused to let the audience lead a shaky applause, while each student leaned to get a better view of the new teacher. Professor Umbridge hadn't even stood up for her welcome.

Dumbledore didn't seem to notice, but continued, smiling just as brightly. "Tryouts for the House Quidditch teams will take place on the –" He trailed off, looking behind himself at the Umbridge woman. He grinned, and sat down quickly. Karida didn't understand what was going on, and craned her neck to see what might have interrupted him.

A sickly sweet voice echoed through the hall, and it took Karida until quite a bit into the woman's speech to realize that it was coming from the woman that so resembled a blowfish. She now realized the woman was indeed standing, but was just very short. Students at other tables exchanged glances with their classmates, trying to figure out who this woman thought she was.

Of course, Malfoy looked up at Umbridge knowingly, whispering to Pansy. Well, not exactly whispering, it _was_ Malfoy after all. His voice carried, and as the hall was almost silent, Karida could distinctly make out the words, "My father…"

Umbridge coughed once very girlishly, and continued. "Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She gave an exaggerated smile. "And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!"

The thugs sitting next to Karida didn't seem very happy, even though this seemed to be where Umbridge's attention was drawn.

After another tiny cough, Professor Umbridge gave a very lengthy and boring speech that Karida did not even try to follow. She let her mind wander, and she could tell that most of the students in the hall were doing just the same. The Weasley twins that she had encountered on the train weren't even looking in Umbridge's direction, but instead were shaking from a fit of silent laughter.

After quite a long wait, Dumbledore started clapping as Umbridge finally sat down. Not very many of the students – or even the faculty – seemed to be clapping, so Karida just nodded slowly, still a bit spaced out.

Whoever that woman was, Karida could tell she didn't like her.

Too much pink.

Dumbledore made a few more notices - including one stressing the ban on dungbombs – before excusing the students to their dormitories. As soon as he had, the seventh-years next to her shot out of their seats and booked down the hall.

Malfoy and Pansy, as prefects, had to lead the first-years down to the dungeons.

"Oi! Ickle firsties!" Malfoy yelled down the table. "What's taking so long? Get a move on! I'm not going to wait all day!" A first year shuffled past Karida, looking extremely terrified.

Pansy stood on the bench, pointing to her prefect badge and sneering at the eleven-year-olds. "Afraid to sleep in the dungeon? Need your mum to tuck you in?" Her high voice rung through the crowd.

Karida side stepped out of the bench, and walked as quickly as she could out of the Great Hall. This wasn't very fast, of course, since the place was packed with all sorts of students attempting to do the same thing.

Even Harry Potter seemed keen to get out as quickly as possible. He shoved Karida aside on his way out. She thought this was quite rude. And unnecessary. She couldn't really complain though, as she pushed her way through as well.

Soon the crowd thinned, and Karida was able to change into a brisk jaunt as she walked down the corridor – down some steps – turned right – through a door behind a curtain – down some more steps – through an empty classroom – turned left – down even more stairs (skipping the vanishing step) – until she found herself standing in front of the stone wall in which the entrance of the common room was concealed.

She clapped her hand to her forehead. Didn't think to stop and ask for the password. She decided to run through the basic Slytherin passwords, ones that had been used many times in the past.

"Salazar? Serpent? Basilisk? Bloody Baron?" All of these attempts failed. Still no students appeared from the corridor behind her. She mentally scolded herself for not catching up with the couple of Slytherins who had been right in front of her. "Er… Pure-blood?" She tried a password that was used once in second year.

A door seemed to melt out of the stone. Karida rolled her eyes. As Malfoy was prefect, there were going to be a lot of passwords like this…

Stepping into the eerily lit common room was odd. Karida felt warmer and colder at the same time. It was chilly, but also distinctly muggy and musty. Being under the lake, there's not much opportunity for ventilation.

A fire was crackling under the mantel, over which the portrait of three powerful-looking wizards was snoozing. A few students were chatting in some very elegant black chairs, and a couple was on the verge of snogging on a couch.

Even though she wasn't as bloated as usual with her start-of-the-year feast, Karida was still unbelievably tired. The torches on the cracked and damp wall didn't give off very much light, so she had to watch her step as she went farther down into her dormitory.

After one set of stairs down and going farther down the corridor than she had the year before, Karida saw a silver sign that said "Fifth-years" in dignified writing. She turned left at this, where she found two doors directly across from each other. As the girls' dormitories had been on the right for four years, she opened this door.

To her relief, inside she found her trunk against a four-poster with a nameplate on it. She opened the three latches quickly and dug out her nightclothes. Deciding she would unpack later, Karida slid the trunk safely under her bed.

Wanting to be safely asleep before the other girls came in, she changed as quickly as possible. Even if she couldn't by then, Karida at least wanted to be tucked in - and truly asleep before Pansy filled the room with her snores.

There were footsteps and conversation outside the door as more students came to bed. Karida knew she was safe, as Crabbe and Goyle would be lost without Malfoy, so they'd wait.

And Pansy's loyal gaggle of girls would be behind her, giggling at all of her jokes, and helping her make fun of those poor first-years.

Karida sighed and clambered into bed, drawing her emerald green curtains shut around her. This was going to be her longest year at Hogwarts, wasn't it? There was no way her father would let her come home from the holidays. He was too scared that her deranged aunt might show up on their doorstep.

The other thing Karida wondered, as she pulled her blankets up around herself and curled up; was _who_ that Umbridge woman could possibly be. She had quite nerve to interrupt Dumbledore like that. Nerve, or she was like Malfoy and his father, having no respect for the headmaster.

And the Sorting Hat's warning; well of course, it wouldn't be easy for her to act upon it. How exactly was she supposed to go up to Neville Longbottom, for example, and give him a warm "how do you do?", when he would almost jump out of his skin at the sight of her?

House unity. That might be easy for the Hufflepuffs.

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><p><strong>Thank you for the reviews!<strong>

**Feel free to review again, wink wink. Or for the first time! Let me know that you read it :)**


	3. Ickle Firsties

**A/N:**

**So I thought I'd just say – Karida's name is all weird because I wanted it to have meaning, since JK put so much thought into each of her characters. Karida means pure and loyal. I'm honestly not too fond of it, but I really like the meaning for her. **

**Also, her last name is a bit confusing – Her father is Rodolphus and Rabastan's brother. Karida goes by her mom's maiden name because he doesn't want her to be seen as a Lestrange. Hope that clears it up a bit. She'll explain eventually, but I thought you ought to know :)**

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><p><strong>Chapter III<strong>

There was nothing in the world that could wake a person up quite like Pansy Parkinson's snoring.

Karida stretched as she untangled herself from her blankets, and sat up slowly. Today she'd get her class schedule. So, which subjects would she be condemned to share with her least favorite people this year?

After peeking out from behind her curtains, Karida noticed that it was still relatively dark, and none of the other girls seemed to be awake. She let herself fall back onto her pillow. Sleep was impossible now however, as Pansy's snores filled the room.

Karida lay back down to rest her eyes, and maybe try for more sleep. But soon, Daphne woke up as well. From her shrouded bed, Karida could hear Daphne going about the room and waking everyone up. Loudly.

Soon her own curtains were thrown open. "Gooooood morning!" The blonde cheered much too happily. Karida waited for her to turn around before drawing them closed again.

The other girls took quite a long time getting ready, all the while talking about Malfoy, what classes they were taking, Malfoy, Pansy's hair, and Malfoy. Karida didn't want to be part of those conversations, so she stayed in bed, waking up all the way.

When the giggles were finally lost down the hall, Karida shot up from her four-poster and got dressed as quickly as she could. Judging by the ray of dim light shining through the single window in the room, it was almost breakfast. Karida decided she'd have to wait until her next time alone to unpack.

After she straightened her tie, Karida pushed open the heavy door and walked down the dormitory corridor. She had to sidestep a couple puddles, and the same drips from the ceiling.

The common room seemed busy at first glance, but Karida noticed Malfoy, Pansy, and the few new Slytherins were the only occupants.

"But… Ms. P-Parkinson…" A tiny little boy in crisscross applesauce on the floor started timidly. "H-How are we supposed to know where all our classes are if the castle is a mile long?"

"And he – " A girl pointed at Draco, "said that there would be monsters in the dark hallways! I don't know any good spells…" She looked on the verge of tears. Karida gave Pansy a haughty glare and left the common room quickly, not wanting to hear any more.

Dumbledore had definitely picked the best Slytherin prefects, all right.

The corridors were unusually empty as Karida made her way to the Great Hall; taking the back routes so she wouldn't have to go up all the stairs she'd descended the night before.

This was a strategy she picked up after being completely out of breath after her first breakfast not being escorted by a prefect.

The day after that, Malfoy had boasted that his father told him _all_ about an alternate route, and wound up getting himself and the other first-years even more extravagantly lost than usual. Luckily, Snape had found them wandering around on the third floor before Malfoy could get any farther.

By the time she'd arrived, the Great Hall was full. Karida shakily asked some third-years to scootch over. When they wouldn't, she got frustrated and shoved them aside. She was getting sick of having to sit alone.

Since she had been starving all night, Karida was impatient for the food to appear. When it did, she all but snatched a berry tart out of the third-years' hands.

She wasn't having the best morning.

By the time Karida had stuffed herself with the house-elves' cooking, the schedules had been handed out. Her Monday consisted of:

**Charms ~ Filius Flitwick**

**Double Potions ~ Severus Snape (Dungeon Three)**

**History of Magic ~ Cuthbert Binns**

**Double Defense Against the Dark Arts ~ Dolores Jane Umbridge**

Double Potions ought to be fun enough. Except for Malfoy. But it was Defense Against the Dark Arts that Karida was most worried about. She recounted her previous teachers.

First year, Professor Quirrell had fallen over when she had asked him a question after class. After she had repeated herself, he lost his temper in a matter of seconds and shouted the answer at her. And he turned out to be the Dark Lord.

Second year, Gilderoy Lockhart simply _graced_ the classroom with his presence… In his mind. But in reality he was a scaredy cat, hiding from those Cornish Pixies. Hermione Granger had frozen one that had been pulling on Karida's hair rather hard. She was grateful.

Professor Lupin was the first teacher who seemed to understand Defense Against the Dark Arts at all. But he missed class quite a lot. And he picked favorites.

Karida was still haunted by the feeling of the Imperius Curse Moody had put on her. But he did turn out to be a Death Eater, after all.

But what would Umbridge be like? If she knew Lucius Malfoy, Karida couldn't hope for her to be any better than the rest.

Karida naturally thought Snape was and had always been the best choice for the post. But for some reason, he never got chosen.

As she was getting up, the cluster of first-years passed her.

" – But how do we – "

" – Where – "

" – What if – "

" – I bet – "

They were each trying their best to look unnerved, but all of them looked absolutely terrified.

Malfoy and Pansy were watching them, shaking with giggles. Though it was part of their prefect duties to lead them to their first week of classes, they obviously thought it would be much funnier to just watch them wander aimlessly.

Karida took a last bite of toast, washed it down with a swig of pumpkin juice, and stood up with a huff. She may not be a prefect, but she wasn't about to let these firsties get attacked by Peeves.

When she caught up to them, they each looked up at her nervously.

"Who are _you_?" One of the boys asked rudely, obviously trying to show off.

"I'm Karida. Malfoy and Pansy can't seem to take you to your first class –" The group of fifth years was starting to get up, Malfoy pushing a second-year on the way. " – So I'm going to… Help them out, and take you myself." She finished, trying to look as kindly as she could down at the tiny firsties. Maybe she could prevent that one rude boy from becoming a Malfoy. That would be nice.

"We don't need your help. I can lead us to Snape's dungeons just fine." Maybe not.

The girl from the common room stepped up. "Don't listen to Xavier! What if the monsters get us?"

"Don't worry, there aren't any monsters. Just a few ghosts. But the only one you have to watch out for is Peeves. If you're not careful, you'll get a bucket of ink on your head."

The girl looked petrified.

"Lucky for you, I know most of his schedule," She said hurriedly. "I'll be able to steer us away from him. And he's not very good at being quiet most of the time, so you'll get the hang of it, too."

She started walking down the rows of tables, gesturing to the first-years to follow her. "So, you guys are off to potions today?"

The girl sped up to walk next to her. "Yeah!" She said, checking her schedule. "We're in… Dungeon Five…"

"See, I know where that is!" Xavier scowled. "It's right next to Dungeon Six…"

"Actually, it's next to Dungeon Four. Dungeon Six is on the other side of the castle." Karida said coolly, and that shut him up.

After passing through a few tapestries, trick doors, and crowded corridors, they descended a flight of damp stairs; arriving in the dungeon. Karida pushed open the heavy door into the classroom, and held it open while the firsties streamed in. The Gryffindors were already sitting, their cauldrons set up.

Professor Snape had been writing at his desk at the front of the dimly lit room, but at the sound of the door opening, he spun around. "You're late," he said slowly as he stood up, letting his black coat swish around his ankles. He looked intimidatingly down at the first-years.

"Sorry Professor," Karida started, and his attention shifted to her immediately. "Our _wonderful_ prefects decided to take an off day."

Snape's lip curled. "I am sorry to see that Mister Malfoy and Miss Parkinson have neglected their duties. Even so," he paused, "you stepping up to take their jobs was very responsible. Ten points."

Karida smiled a bit smugly. She knew Snape wasn't being fair. But she was content with him finally realizing a mistake of Malfoy's.

After nodding at the apprehensive eleven-year-olds, Karida walked back up half of the stairs from Snape's dungeon, turned, and went through a ripped tapestry of a cobra striking a mouse. Again she murmured "Pureblood" to the hidden door, and stepped into the empty common room.

She rushed into the dormitory to get her schoolbag (which required much digging through her trunk), and hurried off to Charms class.

In one of the more secluded hallways, she passed both the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan, talking to a Gryffindor first year. One of the twins was leaning with his arms crossed against the wall while his brother held something out to the boy. He watched Karida as she tried to casually crane her neck to see behind Jordan's back. She accidentally caught the redhead's eye, and he winked and shook his head slowly, smirking.

Karida felt her face heat up furiously, and stared determinedly at her shoes until she reached the end of the hall.

When she reached the classroom, all of the seats had been filled up but one. She was forced to sit next to Millicent Bulstrode at the end of the row, meaning they would probably have to be partners.

It wound up not mattering anyway, as the entire class period was spent by Flitwick standing on his makeshift pedestal and lecturing the Slytherins about the importance of the O.W.L.s.

"Soon this year, your head of house, Professor Snape, will talk to each of you about career choices! So make sure you try to brainstorm your options!" He squeaked.

Career choices? Karida hadn't even thought about career choices. Sure when she was little, she wanted to be a dragon trainer, but that was in the past. Now that she was older, Karida had no idea what she aspired to be.

The bell rang, and Karida heaved her rucksack laden with heavy school books over her shoulder, still wondering what she'd be able to discuss with Professor Snape. It had begun drizzling lightly, and the autumn chill was starting to settle over the castle. She pulled up her hood as she crossed through one of the courtyards on the way to Dungeon Three.

After descending the same steps she had earlier that morning, Karida stood with the crowd of intermixed Slytherins and Gryffindors waiting in front of the classroom door. Soon, Snape arrived and opened the door for the class, and they all shuffled in. Karida took her spot with the other Slytherins in the front of the room.

"Settle down," said Professor Snape, as he reentered the classroom himself. Every student went silent. "Before we begin today's lesson, I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions."

Karida put her elbows on the table and leaned on to them. She knew Snape to be very blunt. Hopefully he wouldn't take the whole class time to lecture them all, as Flitwick had.

"Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'acceptable' in your O.W.L., or suffer my… Displeasure." His stone-cold gaze was directed at poor Neville Longbottom, who looked abnormally pale.

"After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me," He paused, appraising each of his students for their reactions to this statement.. "I take only the very best into my N.E.W.T. Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying good-bye."

Karida would have hated to be on the opposite side of the glare Snape was giving Harry Potter that second.

She very much wanted to continue Potions, but what if she didn't get an 'Outstanding' on her O.W.L.? What if the job she wanted didn't call for Potions training? What if she got below 'Acceptable' and Snape hated her for the next two years?

Karida calmed herself down_. It's just O.W.L. stress setting in_, she told herself. _Just O.W.L. stress_.

"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell, so whether you are intending to attempt N.E.W.T. or not, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high-pass level I have come to expect from my O.W.L. students." He let out a sharp breath and shuffled some papers on his desk before continuing. Karida realized he was changing the subject, and went back to the usual rapt attention level she had in Potions class.

"Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation," Professor Snape restarted, talking much faster than he had been. "Be warned: If you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close attention to what you are doing." He gave Malfoy a warning look; he had just been whispering to Pansy.

"The ingredients and method are on the blackboard" - and after a lazy flick of his wand, so they were – "You will find everything you need in the store cupboard," The doors of which swung open, revealing much more advanced ingredients than the first-years she had directed this morning would have been working with. "You have an hour and a half… Start."

Karida hurried to the front of the class to gather some ingredients needed for her potion. After almost dropping her bottle of powdered porcupine quills, she sat back down at her table and lit her fire with her wand. The potion proved to be one of the most difficult she had ever experimented with.

Meanwhile, Professor Snape was circling the classroom, surveying everyone like a hawk. Goyle's cauldron was on the table adjacent to hers, and was smoking a dangerous red color. Snape ignored it.

When he arrived at her desk, Karida's hand started shaking as she added the powdered moonstone to her potion. She almost started stirring it clockwise when Professor Snape murmured, "Three times _counter_clockwise, Miss Talon…" She jumped and let go of her wooden spoon immediately.

The blackboard said to let the potion simmer for seven minutes before adding syrup of hellebore, so Karida flipped through her potion book impatiently, keeping a close eye on the flames. Malfoy came over from his seat next to Goyle and peered into her cauldron.

"Are you _sure_ it's supposed to be that color?_" _He asked. Just because Snape treated him the best in his class, made Malfoy think he was the best at potions.

"Well, considering Professor Snape hasn't had to add anything to _my_ potion, yeah, I think it is." She said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. When Snape had passed his cauldron, he had indeed added an extra pinch of a powdered substance.

Malfoy looked at her incredulously, and rushed back to his desk.

Ten minutes before the deadline, Professor Snape addressed the entire classroom. "A light silver vapor should now be rising from your potion," he said lazily.

Like all the other students, Karida stole glances at how the rest of the class was doing with the potion. Hermione Granger's seemed to be emanating the right color vapor, just as her own. While Karida had been calm and collected during the entire process, Longbottom was looking very pale and panicky. Seamus Finnigan had managed to light yet another thing on fire, and Ron Weasley's ears were almost as red as his hair as his potion spat green sparks.

Professor Snape walked past all of these screw-ups casually though, as he zoned in on his target.

"Potter, what is this supposed to be?" He said coldly, but also with a bit of enjoyment in his voice.

Malfoy looked back at Potter excitedly. He always loved Potions, just so he could watch Snape torture the Gryffindors.

"The Draught of Peace…" Potter said, staring at his cauldron.

"Tell me Potter… Can you read?"

Malfoy practically shrieked like a hyena.

"Yes, I can," Potter said dangerously.

"Read the third line of the instructions for me."

Potter's voice fell as he read through the instructions and realized that he had forgotten the hellebore.

Snape grinned triumphantly and emptied his cauldron with a wave of his wand. He slunk his way back to his desk at the front of the room. "Those of you who _have_ managed to read the instructions, fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name, and bring it up to my desk for testing. Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on Thursday." Karida scribbled this in a notebook, and ladled her potion into a crystal flagon.

While waiting for the line at the front of the room to shrink, Karida scoured the rest of the potion from her cauldron and set it back on the supply table. There was a loud crash, and Karida saw that Goyle had shattered his flagon. She rushed over to put out the scarlet fire that caught on his robes, since Malfoy and the rest of his cronies were already at the front of the room.

Soon she joined the queue herself, and waited for Professor Snape's approval. When it was finally her turn, she handed her sample over. He noted the color, uncorked it, and smelled it with his hooked nose. He looked pleased.

"Well, Miss Talon, it seems that your potion would be the only one in this class that would be safe to drink." Karida beamed. "Ten points. You may take this to your dormitory. I'm sure it will help you sometime before the examinations." He said, and handed back her flagon.

"Thank you, Professor," she said before walking away, grinning. She tried not to look at Hermione Granger, who was giving her a cold stare.

As soon as he had graded the last potion – ("Atrocious, Finnigan…") – Snape retired into his office, and the bell rang. Karida packed the last of her things into her bag and started out the door when Longbottom tripped over his own foot and knocked over his cauldron and what was left of his ingredients onto the floor. They were the last two students in the classroom.

Longbottom was wringing his hands and starting to look green, all while never taking his eyes off of Snape's door.

Karida decided there was no reason to rush to lunch, and set her bag down on a nearby table and whisked out her wand. Neville looked at her, petrified.

She pointed her wand at the glass and copper shards on the floor, and whispered, "_Reparo_." The pieces all flew back onto Neville's desk with a clink. Karida smiled at him. "Lucky that Professor Snape didn't hear that, eh, Longbottom?"

He stared at her, mouth agape, and then whirled around to put his things away, keeping his back to her. Karida stayed for only a minute longer before realizing that he wasn't going to say anything back anytime soon. She picked up her bag and was off to the Great Hall for lunch in a flash.

It was always a shock to everyone when a Slytherin did something nice.

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><p><strong>Thank you! If you review, I will love you forever. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Feel free to ramble. I know I sure do.<br>**


	4. An Excess of Pink

**A/N: I'm sorry for the time it took for me to finish this chapter, BLAME MY LAZINESS!**

**Or be like Harry, and blame Snape and Malfoy. :)**

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><p><strong>Chapter IV<strong>

_**An Excess of Pink**_

When she got to the Great Hall, Karida realized once more that she didn't know where to sit. Malfoy was going on and on to Pansy about how Professor Snape said his potion was "absolutely perfect."

Instead of worrying about it, Karida picked up a plate, piled it with ham and cheese sandwiches, and headed to her dormitory to start on Snape's essay. She knew Professor Binns would assign some lengthy assignment that had the chance to take hours to complete. Just like everyone else in the school, Karida found it hard to stay focused on the dull dates and events from History of Magic.

As the clouds around the school had grown considerably darker, Karida made sure to take the route that would keep her inside the longest. Inevitably, she had to run across a courtyard, getting her robes considerably damp on the way.

The common room was empty, so Karida sat down on a table nearest to the fire and laid out a piece of parchment. After flipping to the glossary in her Potions textbook, she found it easy to list all of the properties of moonstone. In no time at all, she had written twelve full inches.

After biting off the crusts of the last sandwich triangle, Karida pushed her chair out and repacked her bag. Only a few older students had joined her in the common room, and judging by the piles of books and papers on their tables, they were only using the time to study as well. She took this to mean the floodgates had not opened up after lunch, and she had time to start unpacking before she had to run off to History of Magic.

The dormitory seemed so much larger without the other three girls lying about. The beds had already been made up since the morning, and any clothes on the floor had been neatly folded and laid on the duvet.

Karida's trunk had been safely stowed back under her bed, so she yanked it out and snapped the latches open. After pulling open the doors of the large brass wardrobe she shared with Daphne, Karida hung up her dress robes and her house sweaters. She had started stacking her extra schoolbooks on her desk when she started hearing more activity in the hallways. Karida slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way out of the dungeons.

Although she was expecting Professor Binns to go on yet another speech about the importance of the O.W.L.s, he was surprisingly oblivious that they were indeed starting their fifth year, and went straight on to a lecture about various giant wars. By the end of the period Karida had changed positions eleven times, from leaning back in her chair with her legs forward, leaning with her elbows on the desk, with her head on her desk, crossing her legs different ways, or almost sliding off onto the floor.

In her second year, she'd actually fallen asleep while Binns was rambling in his impossibly monotone voice; he didn't notice, of course, but Karida woke up very quickly when he'd walked straight through her desk after class was over. She didn't want to chance that happening again.

Her assumptions about the homework level were correct; Binns had decided that it was best to show the importance of their O.W.L. year by assigning their longest essay yet.

Directly after the bell rang, the whole class shot up from their desks. This was surprising, seeing as all of the students had been inanimate moments before. After slinging her bag leaden with textbooks, Karida sped out of the door to beat the other Slytherins.

Karida's last class of the day was with the new professor, Umbridge. She was a bit apprehensive as she weaved her way through the halls down to the classroom, thought it would be easy to tell whether Umbridge was a competent teacher or not; all of the previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professors showed their true colors very quickly.

Getting to class first had its benefits; all of the desks were empty and Karida had her pick. Naturally she chose the one in the back corner. This had become her strategy to avoid teacher calling on her.

After sitting down, Karida realized she was not alone in the classroom – Professor Umbridge was sitting at her desk, watching each of the students file in with an expression that should have said that there was no place she'd rather be. Instead, it was rather daunting. She was again wearing that horrid pink cardigan and it send waves of dislike through Karida.

The rest of the class came in shortly after, not wanting to get off on a bad impression with the new teacher. When everyone had gotten settled, Professor Umbridge sat up straight and addressed the entire room. "Well, good afternoon!" she said brightly.

This was one of those times where Karida just stayed silent; not really knowing whether to reply or not. There were a few dutiful students that mumbled a reply, but Professor Umbridge was not satisfied with this. "_That _won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"

There seemed to be an audible outtake of breath before everyone in the class muttered "Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," back at her.

"There, now, that wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away –"

Karida did a double-take to check with her classmates to see if they should take Umbridge seriously. Sure enough, everyone was warily following her instructions. She carefully stowed her wand safely in her robe, and pulled out her note-taking supplies.

Professor Umbridge fished in her frilly, sparkly, and _pink_ handbag for her wand, which she used to write slanted words on the blackboard.

**Defense Against the Dark Arts**

**A Return to Basic Principles**

"Well, no, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" Umbridge said sweetly, making Karida wince. Her voice was going to get annoying, very fast. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum," She said this with an audible pitch change, as if she was personally insulted by the thought of anyone going against the Ministry. "Has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your O.W.L. year."

Karida however, was darkly reminded of the impostor Moody's spell-casting on her, which could not have been a Ministry-approved curriculum. When he had found out that she was related to none other than Rabastan Lestrange, he seemed quite intent on getting her to break the hold of the Imperius curse.

"You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please." She rapped on the board again once more with her unusually short jeweled wand. The course aims appeared in the same lacy handwriting.

The class went silent and copied what was written. Karida squinted at the chalk from the back, confused. What spells would they be learning? What enchantments? What _was _the defensive magic that they'd put in c_ontext_? From the sneaky peeks at the students at the desks around her, Karida didn't notice anyone else looking befuddled. Soon the whole class was once again appraising Umbridge, who looked back at them just as intently.

The second Seamus Finnigan had finished scrawling his last letter, Professor Umbridge clasped her hands together tightly and said, "Has everybody got a copy of _Defensive Magical Theory _by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

Karida almost started to reply, but stopped herself and just hummed her consent when Professor Umbridge directed her attention straight at her.

"I think we'll try that again," she said haughtily. "When I ask you a question, I should like you to reply 'Yes, Professor Umbridge,' or 'No, Professor Umbridge.'"

Karida closed her eyes to hide the fact that she was rolling them.

"So, has everyone got a copy of _Defensive Magical Theory_ by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

"Yes, Professor Umbridge," Karida chanted with the rest of the class.

"Good," Professor Umbridge said, beaming as if she'd just taught a puppy how to sit. "I should like you to turn to page five and read chapter one, 'Basics for Beginners.' There will be no need to talk." She shuffled back to her desk on those stubby little legs of hers, looking almost like a pink slug as her long skirt rippled behind her.

Not talking for Karida was easy of course; she had no desire whatsoever to communicate to Pansy about her immediate dislike of Umbridge, nor to Malfoy that Granger's hand was once again in its position straight in the air. Though she probably would have joined in with Daphne in her fit of badly hidden giggles a couple years previously, Karida ignored her and began reading.

It was only after reaching the end of the first page that Karida realized she had not taken in a single word she had just read. She attempted to read it again, but felt her eyes start to feel quite heavy. Her elbow slipped off the desk, and she snapped her head up before it collided with her textbook.

Goyle was drooling, not even bothering to feign paying attention. A quarter of their class had their attention focused on Granger instead; her arm was still determinedly in the air. Even as several minutes passed and even more students stopped reading, Granger's hand stayed straight up in the air – maybe she had gotten practice from never being called on in Potions.

Malfoy was pantomiming his absolute favorite imitation that you could tell he had been waiting all summer to use again. Although Granger's slight bucktooth problem had been fixed the last year, Malfoy did not detract it from his usual mimic of her jumping up and down, raising her hand.

Probably half the class had decided that Granger was more entertaining than Slinkhard's theories on theories before Professor Umbridge finally regarded her. "Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she said, even though Granger's book was clearly unopened on her desk.

Granger gave her a degrading look and said, "not about the chapter, no."

"Well, we're reading just now," said Professor Umbridge, giving her a sickly sweet smile. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"I've got a _query_ about your course aims." Karida watched Granger retaliate with shock. Usually she was extremely respectful of the teachers at Hogwarts – but already she was seething.

Professor Umbridge noticed. "And your name is -?"

"Hermione Granger." She replied boldly.

"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are _perfectly_ clear if you read them through _carefully_." Though Professor Umbridge said this as sweetly as possible, Karida could see people in the class exchanging shocked glances. Any other teacher who had been in the school more than one day wouldn't have insulted Granger's comprehension skills.

Granger didn't look offended. "Well, I don't. There's nothing up there about _using_ defensive spells."

Karida silently thanked Granger for letting her own concerns be heard, though she couldn't help but feel a little jealous as many of the pupils in the classroom nodded in agreement.

Professor Umbridge gave a wheezy giggle. "_Using_ defensive spells?" Her head swiveled to look at the class as a whole. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to _use_ a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely," she gave another annoying giggle, "aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

"We're not going to use magic?" Granger's friend spoke up.

"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr. –?"

"Weasley." He grunted, sticking his hand into the air.

Professor Umbridge turned around as if dismissing the conversation, only to turn around and discover Potter and Granger's raised hands. "Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?" She chirped, her voice growing higher still, and her face flushing.

"Yes. Surely the whole point of Defense Against the Dark Arts is to practice defensive spells?" Karida nodded a fraction of an inch in agreement.

"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?"

"No, but – "

"Well then," Umbridge squawked, her voice cracking. "I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer that you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way –"

"What use is that?" Potter practically yelled. The back of his neck was growing red. He always had a bad temper, Karida thought. "If we're _going_ to be attacked it won't be in a – "

"_Hand_, Mr. Potter!" Professor Umbridge said in a determined singsong voice, and no one had to ask how she didn't need to ask for Potter's name. But when Potter stubbornly raised his hand, she turned away from him. Dean Thomas, another Gryffindor, had raised his hand, along with one of the Patil twins.

As Professor Umbridge grew more and more stressed, Karida rather felt as if she was watching a sporting event as more and more students ganged up on the teacher. She even half-raised her hand to join in, but Malfoy looked at her and she drew it down just as fast.

Eventually, Potter shouted out again. "What good's theory going to be in the _real_ world?"

"This is school, Mr. Potter, not the real world," Professor Umbridge said softly.

"So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting out there?"

"There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter."

This reeled Karida back a bit. The Ministry had been trying to cover up You-Know-Who's return all summer, but most of the teachers at Hogwarts trusted Dumbledore's judgment. Umbridge seemed to be going with the popular opinion that there were in fact _not_ Death Eaters on the loose,_ not_ dementors out of the Ministry's control, and _not_ thousands of people in danger every day.

But even before You-Know-Who had returned, they learned normal Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts… Or at least they were supposed to. So why were they changing the curriculum _now_?

"Oh yeah?" Harry challenged, audibly getting more and more worked up.

"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?" Karida squinted. She was almost fifteen, she wasn't a _child_…

"Hmm, let's think…" Harry said sarcastically, "maybe _Lord Voldemort_?"

Weasley gasped. Lavender Brown squealed. Longbottom fell on the floor. Karida's eyes just widened. And Umbridge didn't react at all. She actually looked somewhat pleased.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter."

Malfoy grinned broadly, but didn't take his eyes off of the scene.

"Now, let me make a few things quite plain. You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead –"

"He wasn't dead," Potter snarled, "but yeah, he's returned!"

"Mr. Potter! You have already lost your House ten points, do not make matters worse for yourself!" Umbridge screeched in one breath, avoiding looking at him. "As I was saying," she said, tapping her talon-like nails on her desk to regain her composure, "you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. _This. Is. A. Lie."_

"It is NOT a lie!" Potter shouted. "I saw him, I fought him!"

"Detention, Mr. Potter!" Professor Umbridge interrupted. "I repeat, _this is a lie._ The Ministry of Magic guarantees –"

Karida suddenly wanted to raise her hand and say, "Oh, well if the lovely _Ministry_ guarantees it, it _must _be true," but she just continued to sit, silently fuming.

"– that you are not in danger from any Dark wizards. If you are still worried, by all means come and see me outside class hours." One look around the classroom and anyone would be able to tell that no student would be doing so. "If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend."

_Even _I'm_ not that desperate_, Karida thought.

"And now, you will kindly continue your reading. Page five, 'Basics for Beginners.'" Umbridge sat down with a triumphant humph.

Potter rose from his desk. Karida kept herself from admiring his bravery for the fact that he was being an idiot. Granger tried to coax Potter into sitting back down, but he refused. "So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" he said, trembling.

The entire class was still, waiting for Potter to reveal more about his night in the maze.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident." She said in a practiced tone, her fake smile vanishing.

"It was murder. Voldemort killed him, and you know it." He spoke as bluntly as if he was speaking to the Ministry directly.

"Come here, Mr. Potter, _dear_," Umbridge said after a long pause, using her most artificial voice yet. She scrawled something on a small roll of pink parchment and handed it to Potter, who snatched it out of her outstretched hand and stormed out of the room to take it to Professor McGonagall.

As soon as he was gone, Umbridge settled herself back into her pouf, and stared challengingly at the class. No one said anything more, but started reading, determined to act like nothing happened.

It wasn't long after they had resumed however, that the bell rang. As everyone started to pack up, Umbridge stopped them. "_I_ excuse you, _not_ the bell, thank you." The class collectively glared at her, and sat back down.

"It looks as if all that time-wasting nonsense has prevented many of you from finishing the first chapter in your book. There shall be no more interruptions or distractions in my class, you understand? I expect this chapter to be read by everyone by the next class on Wednesday." Umbridge addressed them. "There. Now you are excused." Her face was still flushed. But it wasn't a delicate pink like those of the many doilies on her desk, but on the verge of being a deep purple.

Karida decided that maybe Defense Against the Dark Arts would replace Transfiguration as her least favorite subject this year.

The stream of fifth-years split into two as the Gryffindors and Slytherins went in opposite directions to their respective common rooms, but not until Malfoy had placed a strong jelly-legs jinx on Longbottom. He and the other Slytherins started down a flight of stairs in hysterics, while Karida lagged behind at an indistinguishable distance.

As soon as the rest of her class had disappeared down the steps, Karida turned back to give Longbottom the counter-curse, but he was already hidden behind a curtain of frizzy brown hair kneeling next to him.

Karida couldn't help herself from timidly walking up to them anyways.

With a flourish of her wand, Granger stopped the spasms of Longbottom's legs. He stood up shakily, sweating. He spotted Karida and his eyes widened dangerously. Granger turned on her heel.

"What do _you_ want?" She said, continuing to hold out her wand. "I… I can assure you that I know more spells than you… So... So… Don't try anything!" She warned frantically.

"I wasn't…" Karida trailed off. She didn't know what to say. Her wand was tucked into her robes, but it looked as if Granger might try to jinx her any second. She just stood there awkwardly, her eyes darting across the room.

Longbottom fled in the direction the other Gryffindors had gone.

"I suppose you think Harry's a nutter too?" Granger challenged.

"No." Karida stated, glad for a question she could answer in one word.

Granger's eyes searched her face, making Karida's cheeks grow hot. She bowed her head and turned to go back down the steps.

By the time she had reached the Common Room to drop her books off, the rest of her year was on their way back up, halfheartedly leading the first-years. The same girl waved to her timidly.

Karida rushed back to the Great Hall so she wouldn't miss the first course of dinner. She had to sit in a closer proximity to Malfoy than she would have liked, although something told her that no matter where she sat she would be able to hear him loudly recounting Potter's freak out in Umbridge's class to anyone who'd listen.

Since she wasn't that hungry anyways, as soon as Karida had gotten sick of the bland chicken she had been eating, she left the table. The thought of missing dessert saddened her a bit, but Karida just wanted to finish the day.

The common room was empty when she got to it, so she took her favorite seat by an ebony table and set to work on her History of Magic essay. She had spent what she thought was at least three hours searching for references from her dull textbook, when other Slytherins started to file into the common room in groups. After only maybe an hour of writing, Karida had only filled up four inches of parchment.

The common room started to get more and more crowded, and Karida found it hard to focus. She had just started a sentence when she heard Malfoy's muffled voice, and then Pansy's muffled shriek of a laugh. Karida tried to gather her things as possible to get to bed before they saw her.

She swore a bit too loudly when she spilled all of her brand new self-correcting ink bottle on the parchment, soiling the essay she'd barely started. Yanking out her wand as fast as she could, Karida muttered "_Tergeo_" and the ink cleared immediately. Even though she wasted the whole bottle, her essay was saved and she decided that's all that really mattered. During a Hogsmeade visit she could pick up some at Zonko's.

She was safely out of the common room before Malfoy showed his pointy nose.

Karida changed into her night robes, and climbed into bed, though she found herself to be very awake. She knew the solution: Instead of putting of reading Umbridge's chapter for two days, why not read it now to help her fall asleep? She may not remember it in the morning, but who cares?

After digging through her bag for the thick book, Karida drew her curtains shut around her bed and lit her wand. She opened to page five, and began to read where she left off.

Almost immediately she felt her eyes start to droop, but she made herself read until the end.

Just as she expected, the chapter was as dry as Millicent Bulstrode's personality.

* * *

><p><strong>I HATE UMBRIDGE.<strong>

**BUT LOVE REVIEWS. :)**

**Thanks for reading, I'll try to update faster next time - I'm really excited for a part that will happen next chapter... Maybe two depending on the time lapse I decide on :)**

**I love you all~**


	5. Kneazles and HouseElves

**Chapter V**

**Kneazles and House-Elves**

The rest of the week was full of the same dreary weather. That meant that by the next Tuesday, the spirits of the students at Hogwarts were greatly lifted when the sun started shining over the castle.

Karida's highlight of the past relatively uneventful week was definitely seeing Malfoy's arm almost get snatched off by a Venomous Tentacula branch in Herbology… Meaning the worst part was definitely seeing Pansy and Daphne coo over him.

Her first class on Tuesday was Double Transfiguration, so all throughout breakfast, Karida was determinedly poking her piece of toast to make it Vanish. The only effect was that it seemed to be much less filling when she finally gave up and just ate it. The Vanishing spell had caused her much frustration and hair-tugging all week.

Even Malfoy looked paler than usual on the way to the classroom, where many Hufflepuffs were already in their seats for the lesson. A few birds chirped from their cages before McGonagall strode out of her office, perfectly on time.

"Good morning," she said, in her usual grim tone. "Today you will all show me how you've been working on your Vanishing spells. I expect you to_ keep_ practicing until it is your turn. _Do_ you understand, Mr. Malfoy?"

Malfoy raised his head up far too quickly to be discreet – he had been reading a note Pansy passed him.

As soon as she saw he was paying attention, McGonagall resumed. "Since we have a double period today, I will have time at the end of class to demonstrate the proper way –" she pulled a piece of parchment out of her desk, " – To turn any object, liquid or solid –" with an elaborate flourish-and-flick motion of her wand, the thin parchment McGonagall had been holding turned slate grey, "– Into stone."

She allowed the class a moment to marvel at her handiwork before going on. "Today I will grade you on your performance as if you were taking your practical O.W.L. examination. Some of you will not preform nearly as well as you would have thought, so please bear with me through these first few weeks as you get used to this routine."

McGonagall seemed tired and more agitated than usual, so Karida tried to make sure she wouldn't do anything to push her buttons.

Her attempts didn't make a difference in what had become a regular occurrence in Transfiguration class.

Karida hoped McGonagall would start on the Hufflepuff side of the room first so she had more time to practice; she was disappointed when she stopped next to Crabbe to start.

Looking back over her shoulder anxiously every few minutes, Karida attempted to Vanish her snail from different angles, but to no avail. After one particularly desperate swipe, Karida heard someone clearing their throat behind her, and she jumped.

McGonagall did not look pleased. "Remember, Miss Talon, we are not trying to poke anyone's eye out… Are you ready?" She said, peering over the rims over her spectacles, and holding a clipboard.

Karida looked up from her snail carefully. "Er… I guess…"

"Whenever you're ready," McGonagall said sharply.

Karida took a deep breath and attempted the motion that would make the fully-formed snail in front of her Vanish. Nothing happened. The creature even poked its head out of its shell as if it were in no danger at all.

McGonagall raised her eyebrows as Karida tried again and again, each attempt causing her to get more and more frustrated. "Thank you, Miss Talon, for showing me how much effort you put into this class. Obviously, you have neglected to practice over the entire last week."

It was all Karida could do to not insult her already biased professor. "I did…" she mumbled.

"Please inform me when you are ready to take this class seriously." McGonagall said grimly, passing over Karida's desk after making a mark on the clipboard that looked suspiciously like a zero.

Karida stood up indignantly while McGonagall's back was turned, but sat back down before she was seen. No, it wasn't worth it… She'd talk to her about it eventually.

The next desk McGonagall stopped at happened to be Ernie MacMillan's. Karida watched with her arms crossed as the haughty Hufflepuff hardly did better than she had, but earned his house five points for '_perservering_'.

By the end of class, Karida hadn't made any progress in making her parchment turn to stone. Grumbling, she pushed her way out of the classroom to get to Herbology.

Since she was flustered and frustrated, Karida was barely paying attention to what she was doing. This resulted in a Fanged Geranium almost biting her left hand, and its teeth looked quite sharp. She quickly put its pot back on the table, and grabbed another one to feed.

Luckily for Karida's well-being, Malfoy happened to pick up the ill-mannered flower next. When he neglected to make sure no water touched its leaves, the plant dug its teeth through Malfoy's silver dragon-hide gloves, causing him (and Pansy) to yelp. Karida hid her smirk behind the leaves of the well-mannered sprout she was tending.

Professor Sprout had left the greenhouse to fetch some more slug repellant, but she came back in time to see Malfoy upend the Geranium's pot, sending it crashing to the packed dirt floor. It didn't seem discouraged however, and was moving forward to retaliate, so he smashed the pot on top of it as well.

Professor Sprout stood in shocked silence before deducting twenty points from Slytherin, the baubles on her hat shaking violently. Pansy automatically volunteered when Sprout begrudgingly told Malfoy he'd better get to the Hospital Wing.

Although he was treating it like his famous Hippogriff injury, Malfoy's bite was healed in no time and he was in Care of Magical Creatures with the rest of his class very shortly after the class started.

"Thank you for joining us, Mr. Malfoy, Miss Parkinson," Professor Grubbly-Plank said sharply. "Anyone want to catch these two up on what I've been telling you all?"

Daphne's hand shot up. "Pansy-she-was-teling-us-about-these-cats-that-are-really-loyal-and-can-find-disloyalty," she spurted in one breath, not waiting to be called on. She looked impressively at Malfoy.

"They are loyal and have a knack for finding distrustful people, yes. But they're not just _cats_, Miss Greengrass; does anyone remember what they are called?" Professor Grubbly-Plank asked, picking up the speckled half-Kneazle that had been weaving her legs. Karida knew not to sound like she was one-upping Daphne, so she stayed silent. When no one else offered, Professor Grubbly-Plank turned to her. "Miss… Talon, is it? Can you tell Mr. Malfoy what Harold here is?" She asked, scratching the purring creature behind his ears.

"He's a half-Kneazle," Karida said cautiously.

"Why did I get a half-Kneazle, though? Why not buy a purebred?"

"They're an XXX classification by the Ministry, so they're illegal unless inbred with cats." Karida unwillingly added, not missing that Daphne gave a haughty huff in response.

"Good girl. Take ten points."

The next part of the class included each student going up to pet Harold, which wasn't easy – it wouldn't stray 5 feet from Professor Grubbly-Plank and kept disappearing beneath her robes.

Near the end of the period, everyone was assigned a short six-inch essay on the differences of cats, and cats inbred with Kneazles. She gave them awhile to start so they could ask questions about it if they needed to. This wasn't very necessary, as _Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them_ was an extremely easy read.

While she was crossing off a badly written sentence and cursing about her lack of self-correcting ink, Harold pounced on top of Karida's parchment and started hissing and spitting, glaring at Goyle.

Professor Grubbly-Plank rushed over. Goyle had indeed been copying Karida's sentences, resulting in a five-point deduction from Slytherin's hourglass.

Karida groaned inaudibly. The dent she had made in repairing Malfoy's little temper tantrum was half gone.

When Professor Grubbly-Plank dismissed the class to head to dinner, Karida packed up her things and trudged through the still-muddy grounds. Pansy was making a show of lagging behind to walk with Malfoy, which made Daphne giggle too loudly in an unconvincing falsetto tone.

Karida was hesitant to go to eat in the Great Hall with everyone else. It got tiring feeling like a loner, and it was only the second full week.

As she was following the crowd filtering toward the feast, Karida got an idea. It was ironic, as it came from a memory of one of the people she was trying to avoid.

The kitchens. How could she be so _stupid_? She could go down to the kitchens, nick some food from the house elves, and eat in the Common Room in peace.

This spark of inspiration seemed to get better and better as she walked down the corridor. She needed to finish a History of Magic essay, write the Kneazle paragraph, and practice her Transfiguration by the end of the night. Not to mention she had to be at the Astronomy tower until far past nightfall, and Karida knew from experience that she did her worst work while half asleep.

Karida passed quite a few Hufflepuffs on her way through the opposite basement corridor toward the kitchens.

Remembering how Malfoy had gotten in in third year, Karida tickled the pear on the still-life she had approached. When the portrait swung open, Karida stepped in apprehensively.

House elves. House elves, everywhere. The kitchen had a similar setting to the Great Hall directly upstairs, but instead of impatient students waiting to eat, there were house elves hustling to add the finishing touches to the feast before them. Their faces were frantic as they shuffled past each other, adding the sauce to a piece of chicken or putting another bowl of pudding on the Ravenclaw table.

Just as she was almost starting to back out of the door, all thought of stealing food from the hard-working creatures forgotten, an elf with very large eyes and wearing an oversized holiday sweater bobbed through the crowd to meet her. The other elves regarded him with almost haughty looks as he got in their way.

"Mistress!" The elf squeaked, bowing so his nose brushed the floor, "what is it that you need? How can Dobby be helping you, miss?"

Karida's eyes widened. So _this_ was the elf that used to live with the Malfoys… No wonder it looked so happy to be working in the cramped space.

"Um… I was just wond-"

"Can Dobby get you some food, miss? Will you be missing dinner?"

Karida stopped holding her breath, relieved. "Yeah, actually… Er, lots of homework, you know…" She lied.

The elf before her practically quivered with excitement. "Yes! Yes! Of course! Very smart, miss! Dobby will be right back, miss!" Dobby shouted, running into the crowd behind him.

Karida stood there awkwardly, clutching at her bag and pretending to be extremely interested in the shape of her shoe.

Dobby rushed back surprisingly fast for a creature with such small legs, holding a small platter of turkey sandwiches, a pitcher of pumpkin juice, and a few cookies.

Karida took the food from him gratefully, and arranged her bag so that she could lay the tray flat without it spilling, so she could hold the pitcher safely in two hands.

Dobby was absolutely beaming.

"Er… Thanks," she said, smiling at the elf.

"Oh, Dobby is always happy to help, miss. Dobby hopes you will enjoy your food!" He bobbed along behind her and swung the door open. He gave a flamboyant wave after she stepped out and shut the kitchen door.

Karida smiled to herself, thinking of how kind Dobby had been – it was only when she turned around and had half of the pumpkin juice dumped down her front that she realized who she had run into.

Fred (or was it George?) Weasley started clapping very slowly, while his brother scoured the sticky substance off of himself.

"_Smooth_," George (?) said, grinning as he dried Karida's robes off as well. "Real smooth. These must be the side effects of hanging around Crabbe and Goyle for too long."

Karida tried her best to grin back. She didn't want to look stupid… Oh, what would be the right reaction? What would they think of her?

Fred eyed her admittedly bulging bag. "Well, George, I guess there's no point in nicking food now that she's taken enough for our shares as well… Leave some for the rest of the school, would you?" He teased, brushing past Karida to stand next to the kitchen's portrait hole.

George stayed put, seeming to tower over Karida. "Please excuse my _dear_ brother's flagrant disregard of how to treat a _lady_," He said.

"A _lady_? George, listen to yourself… She's a Slytherin, she spends all her time with Parkinson and Bulstrode!"

Kara couldn't help herself – she laughed out loud. "You're quite right, about that…" she said, stumbling over her words after not having a real conversation in so long. "Pansy's snoring… Honestly, you'd think Goyle was in our dormitory!"

George raised his eyebrows and looked surprised, which made Karida feel more comfortable standing in a deserted corridor with two seventh-year Gryffindors that she should have hated. She had a nice feeling of belonging, like she didn't really have to _do_ anything to prove herself to the twins.

"Really though! It's difficult to get any sleep, I almost need those Mandrake earmuffs," she continued, glad for any reason to blow off steam at Pansy.

While George snickered at Pansy's expense, Fred held it back and squinted in Karida's direction. "The way you're talking about her, that's not how most people talk about their friends, is it?"

George regained his composure and nodded. "Right you are, brother! Careful now, Pansy could be hiding anywhere, don't let her saying any of that…"

"She's actually… Not my friend," Karida exhaled. "I can't _stand_ her anymore. We used to be pretty close, I guess, but… I'm not remorseful." Karida stated, then smirked at George. "And Pansy, hiding? That's impossible."

He looked confused. "She's not _that_ large… Although I could see her having a spot of trouble hiding behind those tapestries," George said, pointing out an elaborately embroidered banner of a wizard duel.

"Well, she's not… But she's never seen without Millicent or Daphne, is she?"

George started piecing it together, a smile breaking across his lips. "And she follows Mouth-Boy like a sick puppy, and _he_ has those two trolls with him… You'd catch her a mile away, wouldn't you?"

"Exactly what I was thinking," Karida said, trying and failing to hide the fact that she was grinning like an idiot.

Even Fred stopped looking wary of her as he agreed.

"So, why are you down here, anyways?" George asked.

"Oh, er… I have a lot of homework, and…"

George just smirked knowingly. "_Right_. Well, toodle-pip." He said, making to step through the door after Fred.

"Wait…" Karida started. "Why aren't you two at the feast, then?"

George turned around and Fred poked his head back out of the portrait hole. "Hooomework!" They drawled in unison. George winked at Karida, and disappeared into the portrait hole, leaving her to look as if the banana on the bottom corner of the painting had called her pretty.

* * *

><p><strong>THAT LAST PART HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY NOTEBOOK (not to mention my BRAAAAIN) FOR A LONG TIME! So happy I finally got to use it!<strong>

**Just a little note; I DO think it's a bit cheezy to use Dobby, but think about it: The house-elves kind of shun him, right? So I think they'd give him a job he couldn't POSSIBLY mess up, like giving food to antisocial students xD**

****Thank you again for reading, I'm glad that I could supply you with a chapter of almost ALL my own writing and not another one of a lot of JK's :P  
>Please please please review though! :D<strong>**

**I cannot thank you guys enough for the support 3**


	6. Gryffindor are Losers

**Chapter VI**

**_Gryffindor are Losers_**

What bothered Karida the most about Arithmancy wasn't that there weren't any other Slytherins in the class – that much she was grateful for. It was the fact that hardly anyone was. The class was quite small, as it was an unpopular elective. Karida didn't expect to be taking it for her N.E.W.T. year. The effect of being in a small class was that Professor Vector didn't have to split her attention between many students; which meant she made Karida answer questions more than any other teacher.

When Karida walked into the unusually empty classroom for a double period the next Friday, she saw that Professor Vector had rearranged the desks in the classroom. Terry Boot and Michael Corner were already in one of the pairs at the front, and Macmillan and Hannah Abbott were the next. Professor Vector had obviously done this for the benefit of their small class, as there was only one open seat – next to Granger, of course.

Both girls shifted uncomfortably as Karida sat down, heaving her heavy textile copy of _New Theory of Numerology_ out of her bag. While waiting for the class to start, Karida straightened her quill to be parallel with her note-taking parchment, and her ink bottle at the most efficient placement and angle for re-dipping.

By the middle of the class, Karida was completely and utterly confused. She squinted at the calculations Professor Vector had made on the board, but they just weren't making sense. Why did they have to move on to different, more complex mathematical theories?

Most of the class consisted of the history of Arithmancy, and then a lesson about a new Theory to apply while using one of their Methods.

Professor Vector wrote a familiar name on the blackboard in her usual boxy, all capital handwriting. "I know that we've analyzed Dumbledore's name before, but remember that instead of using the Agrippan Method, we are using the old-fashioned Chaldean Method today."

Karida had already forgotten what this new Method was.

"When making your charts, please remember to omit the number nine, you wouldn't believe how many mistakes like that I see on O.W.L.s these days… I want you to finish this with your partner before starting on your homework to make sure you understand." She tapped the board, and twenty names appeared for the class to copy and solve for Wednesday.

Granger had already copied and started on the homework by the time Karida started planning out how to solve Dumbledore's Character Number. Professor Vector usually had the entire class work out problems together, but obviously she thought splitting their class into pairs was more effective.

Karida didn't want to follow Professor Vector's instructions, but she didn't want to disregard them, either. Talking to Granger seemed out of the question. Since Boot and Corner were making so much noise arguing over which number corresponded to each letter, Karida decided Professor Vector wouldn't be able to tell that she and Granger were silent.

The bell rang very shortly after Karida finished copying the names off of the board, giving her no time to start her tedious homework. That night she had to go up to the Astronomy Tower for a very late class to study the position of Mars, which meant she would be stuck with her Arithmancy homework looming over her head all weekend. But Karida had Potions next, so maybe she'd have extra time and be able to get some out of the way.

On her walk from the Arithmancy classroom to the Potions dungeon on the other side of the school, Karida made sure to take advantage of the good weather; it would be one of the last days of sun before the grounds were always murky or covered in snow.

But as soon as she arrived in Snape's classroom, Karida had forgotten how nice it was outside. The dungeon was dark and dank as ever, and still had the distinct chill of the previous week.

Since there were no Gryffindors in the class, Snape gave everyone more time to get settled before starting the period. "Today," he drawled in a bored tone, "we will have a very short lesson. The Babbling Beverage is a very short and relatively easy brew, and is definitely not advanced enough for O.W.L. students." He sneered. "Nevertheless, last year, it was part of the practical exam. So we must be prepared."

Karida shuffled uncomfortably thinking about the exams. She'd been dwelling on the thought of them a little too much lately.

"Although this is a simple potion, I ask you all to _refrain_ from rushing; the brew will be significantly different if you neglect to measure properly." Snape opened the store cupboards with a flick of his wand. "And do _not _make me deduct points from my own House for trying to sneak some of your finished Babbling Beverage – it has some rather foul side effects. You may begin."

Babbling Beverage consisted of a lot of bug parts – dried cockroaches, spider legs, and beetle juice for a start – which made Pansy squeal with distaste. Karida had to weigh five different rat tails for Daphne (who wouldn't go near the ingredient) before she found one that weighed two ounces.

Even with having to help the girls, the Babbling Beverage did prove to be a rather quick and easy brew for Karida. The rest of Snape's warning also proved true; when Goyle got to a step telling him to boil his potion for five minutes on high, it bubbled noxiously and emitted enough grey fumes to further darken the classroom. He was forced to start over.

There were still twenty minutes left in the period, in which the others were starting the essay on common potion side effects and cures. Knowing she would be able to finish this easily, Karida wrote the assignment down and unpacked her Arithmancy homework.

It was only after Wendelin the Weird's Character Number equaled an impossible forty-seven, that Karida stuffed the parchment full of ink blots and scratches back into her bag.

When there were only ten minutes left in the class, Karida started packing up her things. She handed over a flagon of her Babbling Beverage to Snape to receive high marks and an approving look. Karida felt her frustration with Arithmancy disappear; at least she knew she would pass her Potions O.W.L., and that's all that mattered.

* * *

><p>"What I say," Malfoy said loudly over the top of his Self-Fertilizing Shrub, "is that all plants should be Self-Fertilizing, it would save <em>so<em> much trouble…"

Pansy nodded her head fervently while Professor Sprout looked disapprovingly over at them.

The double period wasn't helping Karida at all. The Ravenclaws had all paired up with each other at the beginning of the class, as if to distance themselves as much as possible from the Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle shared a Shrub, as Pansy made it clear that she wanted to work with Malfoy. This left Karida with the quiet Blaise Zabini (who was better than the rambunctious Daphne on any count). He was still Malfoy's friend, however, and he interjected random comments into Malfoy's constant stream of drawling, making Karida feel increasingly lonely and out of place.

"…And have you heard?" Malfoy said quickly, changing the subject from the new broom his father was going to buy him. "Weasel-Bee made the Gryffindor Quidditch team! Can you believe it?"

Pansy snorted and dropped her shears.

"I know, right? They must be really desperate…" He looked at a window in the greenhouse ceiling and smirked devilishly. "So I thought we'd… _Welcome_ him to the team."

Pansy didn't understand what he meant and looked at him stupidly. "What do you mean, welcome? We're not on their team…"

Malfoy, loving her constant attention, explained. "At their next practice, we go trip him up! Just… Get him ready for the competition, right?"

Pansy giggled mischievously. "Ooh, that sounds like fun! When is it?"

"Tomorrow, I think. And now that Potter's out of his detention with Professor Umbridge, he'll be a s_cream_. He was too much of a dunce to hold back against her, so he'll be shouting at us the entire time," He snickered.

Daphne, having long abandoned pruning her Shrub to give her rapt attention to Malfoy, tittered with excitement. Blaise smirked and nodded.

Malfoy looked rather pleased with himself for having such a wonderful idea. "So are we all going then? It's after dinner."

Pansy practically bounced up and down. "Of course _I _am if _you_ are, Draco!" She said, blushing and exchanging a meaningful look with Daphne.

Crabbe and Goyle grunted.

"Depends if Binns decides to give us another two-foot-long essay, in that case I'll need to work on that instead," Blaise shrugged.

"It'll be brilliant," Daphne grinned and nodded. Millicent's gargoyle face looked happy, so Malfoy must have taken it as a yes.

Karida tried her best to hide behind her Shrub, which would have been much easier at the beginning of the period before it had been pruned. Going to mock Weasley didn't sound fun at all – Karida actually thought he was quite funny. She never liked it when Malfoy taunted Longbottom, and Weasley wasn't any different.

As much as Karida told herself that that was the only reason she didn't want to go, Ron's brothers continually popped into her mind. They would definitely hate her if she was seen with Malfoy, even if she wouldn't partake in the mocking.

Just when Karida thought Malfoy had forgotten about her, he stood up taller to address her over the Shrub. "What about you, Karida? Fancy a go at ol' Weasel-Bee, for old times' sake?" He winked.

"As _endearing _as that sounds, Malfoy, I've… I've got to practice the Inatimus Conjurus for McGonagall…"

Malfoy snorted. "Oh come on! What if he falls off of his broom? You don't want to miss that!"

"Yeah, come on, Karida! We've all got to practice!" Pansy pitched in, though Karida knew she would like it much more if she was alone with Malfoy.

"Well I have to practice more than you lot don't I? McGonagall hates me… And I have Arithmancy too," Karida protested.

"_Someone_ doesn't know how to have fun," Malfoy scoffed. "Really, do you fancy Weasley or something?"

"No," Karida said a bit too quickly.

"First helping Longbottom, now defending Weasley? You've changed," Malfoy said, shaking his head.

"Fine, I'll go with you," Karida gave up, wanting to avoid any taunts Pansy could think of regarding her having ginger babies.

Malfoy smiled triumphantly. "Yes, this will be fun… Just don't get too scared when Weasel-Bee falls off his broom, alright?" He snickered, turning away to return his shears to Professor Sprout.

* * *

><p>The next day, Karida hesitantly sat next to the group of the people she secretly loathed at dinner. She convinced herself that going to this one event was enough to make the clique leave her alone for a few weeks, and that she'd be able to practice the Inatimus Conjurus under her breath at the stadium. This still wasn't enough to make her forget that Fred and George Weasley would most likely be able to see her with Pansy, when she had just told them that she hated her.<p>

"Okay, remember," Pansy whispered excitedly as the group left the Common Room in warm clothing, "All you have to do to make your voice super loud is point your wand to your throat and say _'Sonorus_'. Got it?"

Karida knew that she wouldn't be saying anything, but nodded as if she was completely interested in what Pansy was saying. Meanwhile, she was really worrying about getting her Arithmancy done. Her grade was obviously dropping by the way Professor Vector had been looking at her disapprovingly, and urging her to ask more questions.

The Quidditch pitch was empty. Evidently, no one else thought it was interesting to view a Gryffindor training session. Malfoy had lovingly invited the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team, and they all made a ruckus as the Gryffindor players started appearing.

"What's that Weasley's riding?" Malfoy scoffed with his wand pressed to his neck excitedly. "Why would anyone put a Flying Charm on a moldy old log like that?"

Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy thought this was absolutely hilarious; Karida was quite comfortable sitting behind Millicent, knowing she wouldn't be seen. If worse came to worse and one of the twins flew overhead, she could squat down between Crabbe and Goyle and be virtually invisible.

Angelina Johnson had just rounded up the team to explain their warm-up when Pansy took her turn. "Hey, Johnson, what's with that hairstyle anyway?" She catcalled. "Why would anyone want to look like they've got worms coming out of their head?"

Malfoy guffawed. Johnson ignored her coolly and the team spread out across the pitch to start passing. Karida wrapped her arms around her knees at the wind, and hoped that Weasley wouldn't do anything to embarrass himself too much.

It wasn't that she wanted the Slytherin team to lose… It was really just what Malfoy's face would look like after being defeated that made Karida hope for Weasley to be really talented.

Johnson passed to one of the twins, who passed to the other, who passed the Quaffle to Potter, who passed it to Ron. Instead of making a smooth catch, Weasley dropped the Quaffle and had to streak to the ground to retrieve it.

Malfoy shrieked with laughter, and soon the rest of the group joined in. Karida felt Pansy's gaze and pretended to jeer along.

The Gryffindor team acted as if nothing had happened and resumed passing, even though Weasley's face was turning scarlet.

"Hey, Potter!" Malfoy jeered dangerously. "How's your scar feeling? Sure you don't need a lie-down? It must be, what, a whole week since you were in the hospital wing, that's a record for you, isn't it?"

Karida snorted unwillingly. Malfoy's insult was really well planned out, for someone who had to stay in the hospital wing for a week for a Hippogriff scratch.

Potter nearly missed a pass from Johnson but sent it on to Weasley quickly, making him lunge unceremoniously and miss by inches.

Pansy absolutely howled. The Gryffindor team sat more rigidly on their brooms as Ron returned with the Quaffle. "Look at his face," Daphne heckled, to no one in particular, "did he get stung by something?"

The next time, Weasley actually caught the Quaffle. Pansy hissed under her breath. Instead of finishing the job with a smooth pass, however, Weasley was so unfortunate as to smack Katie Bell in the face. He looked pathetic and tried to fly over to her.

"Get back in position, she's fine!" Johnson yelled over the Malfoy and his friends, who were all stomping their feet and booing. "But as you're passing to a teammate, do _try_ not to knock her off her broom, won't you? We've got Bludgers for that!"

Karida noticed an odd feeling in her stomach as Fred and George saw Bell was bleeding and converged on her. Fred gave her something to swallow, and then went to fetch their Beater equipment and the Snitch with Potter. Each of them gave the Slytherins a dirty look as they passed over to get into the locker room, and Karida hunched down into her jacket in a vain attempt to hide herself.

Malfoy took the time to turn around and face her. "Karida! Quit hiding! You had no chance with _Won-Won_ anyways!"

In an instant, Karida sat up indignantly.

When the three players had returned to the air, Johnson blew a whistle and the Bludger and the Snitch streaked out of sight. Karida watched Potter's admittedly magnificent flying before Johnson blew her whistle again, bringing him to a halt.  
>"Ron!" She screamed so the whole stadium could hear, "You're not covering your middle post!"<p>

Malfoy looked extremely pleased with Weasley's performance. Pansy gasped excitedly, and started conducting a chant of "_Gryffindor are losers, Gryffindor are losers_," with all of the excited Slytherins. Karida had no choice but to mouth along.

"And Katie," Johnson, who had just been lecturing Weasley, yelled. "Can't you do something about that nosebleed?"

"_Gryffindor are losers, Gryffindor are-"_

"It's just getting worse!" Bell called back, holding her uniform up to her nose.

"_Gryffindor are-"_

Fred Weasley's eyes widened and he checked his pockets frantically. He examined something he found, and wheeled around to face Bell, mouth agape.

"_GRYFFINDOR_-"

"Let's try again!" Johnson barked over the ruckus.

After maybe two and a half minutes, Johnson resorted to blowing her whistle again. Potter stopped shortly; he had evidently just seen the Snitch.

"_GRYFFINDOR ARE LOSERS, GRYFFINDOR ARE LOSERS-"_

Johnson, Fred, and George were next to Katie in a flash, Potter and Alicia Spinnett tagging behind. Katie was bobbing on her broomstick, and practically dripping blood onto the grass below. Fred and George arranged Katie to be supported between them, evidently taking hear to the hospital wing.

"_GRYFFINDOR ARE LOSERS, GRYFFINDOR ARE LOSERS, GRYFFINDOR ARE-"_

As the trio zoomed over the grandstand where the Slytherins had made themselves all too comfortable, George belted at them, "Oi! Aren't you lot tired of that yet?"

"Sing something new for a change!" Fred agreed loudly before they were out of sight.

"_GRYFFINDOR ARE LOSERS-"_

The rest of the team, discouraged and running short of members, had no choice but to retreat to the locker rooms glumly.

Everyone continued chanting but Malfoy, whom Karida knew was giving Fred and Georges' request far too much thought.

* * *

><p><strong>That took me so much longer to write than I had planned, and I don't even know why.<strong>

**I wasn't originally going to have her going to the practice, but I decided to... Don't ask me why, I don't remember.**

**Thanks again for reading! Please please please review! I don't know what you think if you don't :)**


	7. In Which Arithmancy Was TOUGH

**Chapter VII**

_**In Which Arithmancy was TOUGH**_

"And then I said, 'who wants worms coming out of their head?', remember?" Pansy repeated for the umpteenth time. "That was so much fun; did you see the look on her face?"

Karida definitely did see the look on Johnson's face, but she had not seemed nearly as offended as Pansy made her out to be. None of the Gryffindor team was acting any different; sure Weasley looked a bit put out, and Fred and George tried to slip one of the candies that had made Katie Bell bleed into Malfoy's pouch… But the harassment during their Quidditch practice paled in comparison to the next day's news.

Karida knew something was up as soon as she saw Malfoy standing up with his chest puffed out and absolutely beaming. She tentatively stepped over to where his group was sitting for breakfast to hear the news.

A copy of _The Daily Prophet_ was spread out across the entire section of the table, and the oversized picture of Dolores Umbridge was stained with a glob of jam next to Goyle.

**MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM**

**DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST-EVER "HIGH INQUISITOR"**

Karida, shocked and scandalized, attempted to read the article despite the plates covering it.

"I don't get it," Crabbe said thickly, reading the headline with his mouth open. "What is a… 'High In-Queasy-Tore…?"

"The article says she'll come in and judge the teachers," Malfoy said with a gloating expression. "Too bad Hagrid hasn't showed his ugly face yet; I can't wait to see Umbridge boot him out." He said with relish.

To Malfoy's disappointment, Hagrid still hadn't returned in time for their Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Instead of the half-giant, Umbridge was waiting with her clipboard next to Professor Grubbly-Plank.

Umbridge went through all of her usual forced pleasantries with Professor Grubbly-Plank before starting her questioning. After leaving Dean Thomas slightly baffled after a long interrogation, Umbridge turned back to Professor Grubbly-Plank to ask her about her course aims.

She also asked the blunt witch what she thought of Hogwarts and Dumbledore, which Karida thought was odd. Was her fate determined by her loyalty to the headmaster?

Eventually, Umbridge turned off on another tangent and faced Goyle. "Now, I hear there have been injuries in this class?"

Goyle guffawed stupidly while Malfoy rushed to answer the question. "That was me!" He drawled, capitalizing on Potter's rising temper. "I was slashed by a hippogriff."

"A hippogriff?" Umbridge said incredulously, giving Malfoy a sickening piteous expression while she scrawled notes on her clipboard.

"Only because he was too stupid to listen to what Hagrid told him to do," Potter muttered angrily for the class to hear. He was glaring at Malfoy with extreme distaste.

Potter's friends slapped their hands to their foreheads, and Umbridge smiled slightly as she tilted her head in his direction. "Another night's detention, I think," she said happily.

**(A/N: Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four was passed between this time lapse; meaning Quidditch teams were disbanded and so forth.)**

* * *

><p>After an extremely frustrating double period of Arithmancy, Karida was more than happy to finish her Friday with Potions. She was the first in front of the dungeon door, and waited impatiently for Snape to start the class.<p>

Soon Malfoy arrived with his extended group, holding a rolled-up piece of parchment with a seal hanging off. "Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue playing straightaway, I went to ask her first thing this morning," he said, unfurling it and waving it around as he zoned in on Potter joining the line. "I mean, she knows my father really well, he's always popping in and out of the Ministry… It'll be interesting to see whether Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing, won't it? I mean," his voice rising as he smirked at Potter and Weasley maliciously, "if it's a question of influence with the Ministry," (which Karida quite thought it was), "I don't think they've got much chance."

Potter was visibly fuming, but had enough sense to keep his mouth shut for once, lest Snape appear.

"…Apparently they've got a special ward for people whose brains have been addled by magic…" Malfoy joked, miming a lightning bolt on his forehead and rolling his eyes into his head. After a few shrieks from Pansy, Malfoy's delighted face turned to one of astonishment.

Neville Longbottom, _the_ Neville Longbottom, was attempting to throw a punch at Malfoy, but Potter and Weasley held him back. What he was muttering was obscured by Potter's elbow, but he seemed extremely distressed.

Snape threw open the dungeon door to see the trio in an awkward scuffle, and took it to mean Potter and Weasley were bullying Longbottom. He gave a swift deduction from Gryffindor (with a badly hidden smirk) and let the class in for the period.

Karida sat in the front table in the middle of both of the Slytherin and Gryffindor sections, in front of Neville but in plain view of everyone in the class.

"You will notice," Snape said after slamming the dungeon door, "that we have a guest with us today." He gestured to a dim corner, in which Professor Umbridge was sitting, her clipboard balanced on her knee.

Karida smiled bitterly. Finally Umbridge would be put in her place.

"We are continuing with our Strengthening Solutions today, you will find your mixtures as you left them last lesson, if correctly made they should have matured well over the weekend. Instructions – on the board. Carry on."

Umbridge took the first half hour of class to take notes on her clipboard, pausing every once and a while to smile sweetly at Malfoy and keep a close eye on Potter.

While Snape was examining Dean Thomas' Solution, Professor Umbridge snuck up on him and started speaking to his back. "Well, the class seems fairly advanced for their level. Though I would question whether it is advisable to teach them a potion like the Strengthening Solution. I think the Ministry would prefer it if that was removed from the syllabus."

Snape straightened up and turned to face the vile woman slowly, bristling, but not replying.

"Now… How long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?" she asked shrilly.

"Fourteen years," Snape answered, avoiding her eyes. The entire classroom was silent, watching the two talk. The Gryffindors were obviously conflicted whether to hope for Umbridge to have a victory over Snape or vice versa.

"You applied first for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?"

"Yes," Snape said coldly.

"But you were unsuccessful?"

Snape's lip curled. "Obviously." This earned him scribbles on Umbridge's clipboard.

"And you have applied regularly for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe?" She continued, with a shadow of a smile.

"Yes," Snape said quietly, giving Umbridge a look of unfathomable loathing that would only be recognized by those who had seen him interact with Potter.

"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused to appoint you?"

"I suggest you ask him."

"Oh I shall," Umbridge said sweetly, making Karida cringe. Umbridge seemed determined to win everyone over.

"I suppose this is relevant?" Snape asked with the hint of a glare.

"Oh yes. Yes, the Ministry wants a thorough understanding of teachers' – er – backgrounds…"

She finished awkwardly, then made her way to question Pansy.

The class also made an awkward shift back into work. For Karida this meant putting the finishing touches on her Solution. She looked up just in time to see Snape empty Potter's cauldron once again, and she was glad; it was giving off an awful stench of burned rubber.

"No marks again, then, Potter…"

* * *

><p>September eventually melted into late October, although Karida could not say it was a quick process. The house-elf Dobby now knew her name, and was exuberant when she stopped in the kitchens for dinner approximately every other day. Now she didn't have to lie to him; she was barely scraping by in Arithmancy, and even that was an overstatement.<p>

Karida was excited for the Great Hall to be decorated for Halloween, although since Hagrid had not returned, his usual gigantic jack-o-lanterns could not be seen growing during their Care of Magical Creatures lessons.

Professor Flitwick's choir sounded magnificent, and the entire school was buzzing with excitement over the upcoming Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Weasley looked even more sick than usual as the date of the Quidditch opening drew closer.

Meanwhile, at every opportunity, Malfoy was boasting about how he'd made perfect, extremely fast catches of the Snitch at the Slytherin teams' practices. Karida was coerced into going to one of these by the gaggle of girls, and she noticed that Montague, the team captain, had let out the Snitch directly below where Malfoy had been flying.

` The Slytherin team was running short on members, and Malfoy used his heavy influence to drag Crabbe and Goyle onto the team. The only reason why Karida had enjoyed the practice at all was naturally because any thought of Crabbe and Goyle on broomsticks was hilarious.

The realization that the game was just around the corner hit Karida one day while she was desperately trying to study before an Arithmancy exam in the Common Room.

There was a crowd of people growing in front of the fire, and Malfoy at the center. He and the rest of the Slytherin team were handing something out to any student who asked, and they were exhorting even more students off the couches to grab whatever it was they were passing out.

All Karida could do through the noise was sit, blankly starting at her Arithmancy calculations, and wait for people to filter out. When she had given it fifteen minutes, however, her housemates had started singing some song that had a mocking tune, directed by Pansy. Karida tried to ignore it, but it was useless.

With a huff, Karida stood up and gathered her things to head to the library. She was definitely farther behind than anyone else in the class, and she just wanted to get past this one exam. The rowdy atmosphere of the Common Room sure wasn't helping.

Just as Karida was about to slide the stone door open, Malfoy slid next to her, blocking her path. "Haven't you taken one yet?" He asked, holding out a crown pin to her and pointing to his own. "Weasley is our King," Malfoy said proudly, "thought of it myself, though Nott wrote the song to go with…" He held out a piece of parchment with reproduced text upon it. "The more people we get to memorize this, the better. Just don't tell anyone from other Houses, we'd rather like it to be a surprise." After Karida took them apprehensively, he left, his emerald cloak trailing behind him as he rejoined the crowd.

Cursing the Slytherins under her breath for being so inconsiderate, Karida lazily took a portrait shortcut to the library. Once there, she took a seat at an empty table, hoping that she wouldn't have to share her space.

Before taking out her textbook to resume her studying, Karida took out her copy of "Weasley is our King", curious although disgusted.

After a read-through of the poorly-composed song, Karida became ever more thankful that she did not possess the talent for Quidditch. She didn't really understand the appeal either – flying was fun, sure, but what was so fun about hitting each other with different types of balls or watching others hit each other with different types of balls?

But poor Weasley… He could be seen pale faced and green in the public school hallways, obviously already lacking confidence. Although it was cruel, Karida could see why Malfoy would want to taunt Weasley nonstop; it would greatly increase Slytherin's chances of winning.

Pushing the image of all the Slytherins singing "Weasley is Our King" out of her mind, Karida yanked her Arithmancy book out of her bag, hoping that the quiet of the library would force her to understand. It hadn't worked in study sessions thus far, but eventually the magic of the room was bound to kick in.

After what seemed like an hour trying to figure out what letters to add together, Karida found herself hoping beyond hope that when she faced the O.W.L, it would wind up that she _hadn't_ wasted three years in Arithmancy class. What was she supposed to be writing this essay on? What was that Theory that she was applying with which Method? How did she do them at the same time? How the bloody hell was she going to pass her O.W.L.?

Tears unwillingly filled Karida's eyes as she got increasingly frustrated, but she blinked them back. She was going to figure out how to do this.

What was she _missing_? Her practice questions weren't matching up with the answers in the book, so obviously she was doing something wrong. But _what_?

_New Theory of Numerology_ was extremely one-sided and dull. Reading the lesson over and over wasn't helping Karida figure anything out. Surely, any other book would be simpler to follow.

Karida stood up abruptly. This _was _a library after all. She needed to pass the Arithmancy O.W.L., and that wasn't going to happen if she didn't know how to find Nicholas Flamel's character number with Socrates' Method.

Knowing full well that she might find a large volume, Karida packed up her things to move with her to the Arithmancy section. One look down the aisle told Karida that she was not alone.

Granger sidled a bit to make room for Karida to shuffle by in the narrow shelves. She looked like she knew what she was doing; she _was _an expert at navigating the extensive shelves.

Karida wasn't sure where in the section to begin. The library didn't seem to have a very extensive collection of Arithmancy books compared to the size of the rest of the shelves. Dumbledore didn't like the study of Divination, but Arithmancy was completely different. Mathematical predictions are much more reliable than soggy tea leaves. Well, at least they _would_ be more reliable, if Karida could figure out how to do these calculations.

Maybe it was the pressure of the O.W.L.s fully dawning on her, maybe it was out of loneliness or frustration, and it might have been out of spite that Karida called out to Granger as she was leaving the aisle.

"Granger?" she said quietly, not wanting to sound put-offish lest she scare her off.

Hermione turned around slowly, chin raised. "Yeah? You're one of Pansy's friends, right? What's wrong with my hair today?"

"No, I'm not…"

"I'm getting sick of you Slytherins coming in here and pushing me around, I'm just trying to read! I haven't done anything to you!"

""I'm not one of Pansy's friends!" Karida said a bit too loudly, earning her a hiss from Madam Pince.

Granger appraised Karida silently, but didn't reply.

"I'm not one of Pansy's friends," Karida repeated, tears threatening to escape from her eyelids once again. "I just… I've been trying to study for Arithmancy and I just don't _get_ it. You're really smart… Do you think you could help me?"

Granger seemed to see the tears welling up in Karida's eyes, and let her defensive walls down. "Sure, I guess… Yeah, I have some free time, I was just getting some extra background reading in for that essay we have to write." She gestured awkwardly to a small table at the end of the shelf. "Should we sit, then?"

Feeling her frustration melt, Karida went to go set her bag down at the table while Granger slid a few quite large volumes from the shelf. They brought the books to the desk together, and got settled silently.

"So, er… What did you need help with?" Hermione started, pulling out her own parchment and quill and opening up one of the books.

"Um… Kind of everything," Karida said apologetically.

**(A/N Tiny little time lapse that doesn't constitute an entire line break but the ***'s won't stay on this formatting, so like later in the study session)**

"It's really like the essay we had to do third year about the number seven, and the one about thirteen last year," Hermione said, after she had uncomplicated Socrates' Method. "But now we have to put them together and explain why seven cancels out thirteen and not the other way around."

Karida felt her agitation dissipate as everything slowly became clearer, albeit, she had taken a lot of time to get help, so she needed quite a lot of it. She was thankful that Hermione wasn't treating her like she was stupid, just confused.

"This might help," Hermione said, pushing the largest book to Karida's side of the desk. "It's a book written by Bridget Wenlock herself, she basically discovered the number seven! Well, the magical properties at least, you know what I mean."

Hermione guided Karida through about half of her essay when there was a shuffling from a shelf nearby. Fred and George Weasley emerged, determinedly forcing their gleeful faces to stay only a light shade of pink. They were quite obviously concealing a bulge in their robes, and Hermione stiffened. "Excuse me," she said shrilly, standing up. "It looks l have to –"

But before she could push her chair out to scold them, the twins spotted the pair of girls and came over to chat. Hermione sat down quickly.

"Why isn't this a quaint inter-House study session?" George said, grinning down at the table and eyeing their workload with Fred.

"Well, George, maybe she wasn't lying, she does have quite a lot of homework…"

"Nope, I still think she was determined to avoid Pug-Sinton." George shook his head. "Hey, you two might want to clear out, we're testing out our dungbombs-"

"-And they're known to pack more of a punch than Zonkos', if you know what I mean…" Fred finished, and the pair snickered.

"In the _library_?" Hermione said, scandalized. "You can't set off dungbombs in the _library_!" She said in a huffy whisper.

"Ooh, we thought we'd run into a problem like this with Little Miss Prefect," George said.

"But actually," Fred said, smirking mischievously, "you'll find we _can_ set them off in your beloved library. Thanks for the challenge."

"But…" Hermione protested.

"Don't worry your little prefect head about it," Fred said, patting her bushy hair twice. "It'll only last a little while, just enough to clear it out for a while."

"Right, but if we ever tell you we're using our Garroting Gas, you might want to move to Albania." George snorted, and the pair walked coolly off to another shelf.

Hermione started packing up her things quickly, knowing that she hadn't gotten through to the twins. She noticed Karida was blushing the smallest bit pink, and completely misinterpreted. "Sorry about them," She said, rushing to stuff the library books back on their shelves. "They're normally like that. Can you believe them? In the _library_."

Karida packed up the last of her things and the pair walked out of the library doors, checking behind their shoulders for any sign of a discharged dungbomb. They came to the end of the hallway, where they needed to branch off to get to their respective Common Rooms before dinner.

"I can't believe I still have that chapter to read for Umbridge…" Karida groaned. "I usually read ahead since it's interesting, but this book is different."

"I've finished," Hermione said, sticking out her tongue. "And sorry, it doesn't get any better." Karida curled her lip and stood uncomfortably, not knowing what to say to bid her new (friend?) adieux. "Thanks a lot Gran- Hermione." She settled. "Maybe now I'll be able to pass that test on Wednesday…"

"No problem," Hermione said, shaking her head. "See you around?"

"Yeah," Karida said, smiling. Both girls had taken ten paces in the opposite direction before a pin in Karida's pocket stabbed her leg.

"Hey, Hermione, wait up a minute." She said, jogging to catch up quickly. She snatched the pin out of her pocket and dug for the lyrics in her bag. "Malfoy and the Slytherin team came up with this really awful song about Weasley… They'll be singing it at the game."

Hermione's eyes scanned the parchment rapidly, and her face turned to one of disgust. "That's horrid! Ron's not bad!"

"He's really not; he just needs to be confident… So just keep his morale up and don't let him see the buttons before the game." Karida said sadly. "I don't think I'll be going, I don't want to sit in the Slytherin section if they're singing this…

"Well… Why don't you meet me by the Owlery before the game starts? Then we could go in together?"

"That sounds perfect, thanks," Karida smiled warmly, relieved. "Well I guess I'll see you in Potions on Monday…"

"Sounds good," Hermione beamed.

"Oh, and… Tell Potter to try to knock Malfoy off his broom or something. He needs a good whack in the head, maybe with those bats the Beaters have…"

Hermione looked taken aback but grinned mischievously. "No problem."

* * *

><p><strong>Ah, it feels good to have finished this for you guys in a really short time! :D<strong>

**Please review! It helps so much!**

**For all you silent readers who added to their favorites/alerts that didn't review, thank you, too! A lot of you guys have PM'ing disabled so I don't have the chance to say anything. I really appreciate you reading, it would be awesome if you could tell me what you think! Please?**

**Pretty please with a gnome in a fairy dress on top? :D**

**And bee to the dubs, if you can tell me what the chapter title is in reference to, I will give you street cred, in my mind. :)**


	8. Dungbombs

**Chapter VIII**

**_Dungbombs_**

Charms class the Friday before the big game was a lot of fun for Karida. Though she was dreadful at difficult Transfiguration spells, she loved challenging herself with the Silencing spells that were tripping everyone else up. It wasn't long before she had successfully Silenced a cockatoo.

With all the birds flying around the classroom, it really wasn't a surprise when a particularly rambunctious eagle relieved itself on top of Pansy's head, causing the Ravenclaw section of the classroom to absolutely erupt.

Dinner had become one of Karida's favorite times. The Slytherins started to notice her disappearance from the Common Room, but didn't have a clue about her study sessions with Hermione in the library. Karida wondered if they had even registered her absence from the Great Hall almost every night, when she stopped by the kitchens to get her portion of the feast from Dobby. Every day that she saw him, the pile of hats on the elf's head and number of layers of socks on his feet had grown, and he had a new story to tell about Harry Potter.

His top story of the week had been the tale of how he fixed Harry Potter's owl, and…

"I helped Harry Potter find the – Oh, Dobby shouldn't say, miss."

"Shouldn't say what?" Karida questioned, curious.

"Dobby helped Harry Potter with something else as well, but Harry Potter wanted it to be kept secret, miss, and Dobby will do whatever Harry Potter tells him!"

With that, Dobby handed over that night's roasted ham and peanut brittle, and waved exuberantly as Karida backed into the kitchen hallway.

Whatever Potter was doing couldn't be too suspicious, she decided. He was the Boy Who Lived, after all.

* * *

><p>"See, you're getting better already," Hermione encouraged, as Karida showed her the 'Acceptable' she had earned on her Arithmancy essay at the beginning of one study session.<p>

"I guess… It really does help, having someone who knows what they're doing to work with. I was just doing a lot of guesswork before." Karida smiled, extremely grateful that the essay had not been returned emblazoned with a "T".

Eventually Karida didn't need as much help in Arithmancy. Hermione still practically lived in the library, especially with her two best friends at their team's Quidditch practice. Karida continued to avoid Malfoy's posse by talking with her new friend at any opening they both had.

One particularly stormy evening, Karida's description of the fight she had overheard between Pansy and Daphne the night before was interrupted.

"I swear, it's like Daphne finally got put up with Pansy ogling Malfoy all the time. They're both convinced he likes them the most, and it's ridiculous! How anyone could –"

"Thought we could find you here, 'Mione," Weasley said, coming up from behind Karida.

"How was practice?" Hermione asked carefully. Karida already knew Weasley hadn't done too great in his first practice since she attended herself, but by the information Hermione had supplied her, she knew he hadn't been improving.

Potter was quick to reply. "Really wet." He said, pointing to his soaking trainers.

Weasley nodded absent-mindedly. "I can't believe Angelina's still making us practice out there…" Suddenly, he and Potter both turned and saw who was sitting across from Hermione and sharing her books. "What's she doing here?"

Karida sank into her chair and found herself unable to speak.

"She's my friend," Hermione replied calmly.

This didn't help both of the boys stop their glaring. "Why are you friends with her? She's one of Pansy's lot!" Potter accused.

Karida slapped her hand to her forehead and grumbled, "I'm not one of Pansy's friends…"

"She's not one of Pansy's friends," Hermione repeated patiently. "She's one of mine."

"Whatever," Potter said angrily, sneering at Karida. "See you at dinner then." With that, he and Weasley started to storm out of the library. They were quickly confronted by a furious Madam Pince, who was enraged at them for wearing their soggy trainers in her library.

"They're just grumpy because they have Quidditch all the time…" Hermione tried to reassure Karida. "Honestly, I don't understand why they put the pressure on themselves…"

* * *

><p>Setting off dungbombs in the library seemed to become a favorite pastime for Fred and George, and whether it was because of Hermione or Madam Pince's reaction, Karida did not know. Hermione eventually gave up on lecturing the twins endlessly, but would not stop her muttered disapproval.<p>

"There's just no point," She said, sitting back down with a huff. "They just won't listen. And they're starting to sell their "Puking Pastilles" to the first- and second-years! I can't do anything about it… The kids have their right to buy what they want, but it's just wrong."

Karida noted a trend in Hermione's conversations as they became closer friends. She would always sit down in a hurry, stressing about how much work she needed to do. But she always calmed down, and talked either about her best friends, teachers, or her duties as a prefect. She spoke of Ron Weasley a lot, which was something Karida constantly detected. They seemed to get into a lot of quarrels, leaving Karida to be the one reassuring Hermione that she was in the right.

Every time the pair was forced to evacuate the building because of the horrid smell of the Weasleys' trademark dungbomb, Hermione was seen by someone she knew and the girls had to separate.

The only other place Karida could study was the Slytherin Common Room, which was almost always occupied by Malfoy and the lot. Every time she sat down, they would still bully her into sitting near them, which she thought was odd. It was weird to think that none of them had asked about or even noticed her blatant avoidance of anywhere they happened to be.

As soon as she would get close, Karida was sucked into whatever conversation they were having, or forced to laugh at Malfoy's terrible imitation of Weasley dropping the Quaffle. Whenever she would try to focus, Malfoy would pry at her until she was completely exasperated again.

Although Karida loved seeing Fred and George's striking faces around the library, she hated the fact that whenever she'd see them, she was sure to not get any work done for the rest of the night.

* * *

><p>The first Quidditch game of the season fell on the day of one of the first frosts of the season. Even though she'd switched her trainers for boots and her velvet cloak for a few layers of sweaters, Karida couldn't stop chattering her teeth while waiting for Hermione by the Owlery.<p>

Hermione's friend Luna Lovegood (coincidentally the Ravenclaw Karida had met on the train at the start of the school year) passed, wearing her ostentatious lion hat. It could be heard roaring up the path every few minutes.

Eventually, Hermione finally arrived. "It's rather cold, isn't it? At least it's not windy…" she observed. "Here, I brought you a Gryffindor scarf, so you can kind of blend in," she said, handing over a maroon and gold bundle.

"Perfect," Karida breathed, glad for another layer in the icy chill.

Hermione started leading the pair to the Gryffindor entrance to the stadium. "Ron and Harry were so nervous, well Harry not so much, but Ron really was, he was practically green, and he didn't even talk to me!" She blurted, yanking on her gloves.

"He doesn't mean to ignore you," Karida reasoned. "According to you, stress doesn't suit him well. Hopefully after this game he'll calm down…"

"That's not likely though, what with the little surprise the Slytherins –"

Karida coughed.

"Sorry, some of the Slytherins planned." Hermione smirked.

The pair sat in the topmost Gryffindor stand just in time for the game to start.

Montague shook hands with Angelina briefly before Madam Hooch blew her whistle and released the balls. "And it's Johnson, Johnson with the Quaffle," Lee Jordan shouted into his microphone, as the crowd immediately started cheering rambunctiously. "What a player she is, I've been saying it for years but she still won't go out with me –"

"JORDAN!" Professor McGonagall interrupted angrily.

Karida tried her best to listen to Jordan's biased commentary of the match, because in all honesty she wasn't watching it at all. Through her pair of Omnioculars engraved with the Irish Quidditch Team's crest, Karida intently watched one of the flashes of red hair soar around the stadium with his bat. Her stomach sank as a familiar tune started crossing the pitch.

"Spinnet dodges Warrington, avoids a Bludger – close call, Alicia – and the crowd are loving this, just listen to them, what's that they're singing?" Jordan paused just long enough to listen to the first two verses of the song Karida had the pleasure of reading a month prior.

_Weasley cannot save a thing,_

_He cannot block a single ring,_

_That's why Slytherins all sing;_

_Weasley is our King._

_Weasley was born in a bin,_

_He always lets the Quaffle in,_

_Weasley will make sure we win,_

_Weasley is our King._

"- and Alicia passes back to Angelina!" He shouted quickly, trying to drown out the noise of the terrible song.

Hermione groaned. "Already? The Quaffle hasn't even gotten near Ron!" She moved her binoculars to point at the Slytherin section of the stands. "Do you see Pansy?" she squawked. "She's actually CONDUCTING them; this is awful," she shifted to watch the Slytherin Chasers advance on the Gryffindor goalposts, "Ron! Get-it-get-it-get-it! Aw…" Hermione whimpered sympathetically as Ron took a wild dive and missed Warrington's shot entirely.

_WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN_

_HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN…_

"- and Gryffindor back in possession and it's Katie Bell tanking up the pitch – " Jordan attempted to make himself heard above the song.

"Well, the Chasers are really good…" Hermione reasoned. "I bet they can keep it away from the Gryffindor side until Harry catches the Snitch, which should be really soon…"

Karida only paused her watching to nod fervently at Hermione, since she was feeling just as awful inside.

_WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN_

_WEASLEY IS OUR KING…_

" – and it's Warrington again, who passes to Pucey, Pucey's off past Spinnet, come on now Angelina, you can take him – turns out you can't – " Lee shouted, obviously wincing. " – But nice Bludger from Fred Weasley, I mean, George Weasley, oh who cares, one of them anyway –"

Karida had seen George swing at the speeding Bludger, and cheered loudly. She was too busy using her Omnioculars to replay his shot to notice Hermione looking at her funny. After seeing George's hit, Karida was able to tell the twins apart for the rest of the game. Both had different strategies and approaches to the Bludgers – Fred seemed to be defending the Gryffindor players from oncoming Slytherin assaults while George was taking an aggressive stand.

The Slytherin chanting took another swell as Ron missed another goal.

_THAT'S WHY SLYTHERINS ALL SING:_

_WEASLEY IS OUR KING…_

It took until Karida's feet had gone frozen and her nose was red, for Gryffindor to finally score. The goal seemed to rejuvenate the spectators and the Gryffindor team; a lion roar erupted through the stadium.

" – Bell's hit by a Bludger from Goyle of Slytherin and it's Pucey in possession again…"

_WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN,_

_HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN,_

_WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN…_

Hermione pounded on Karida's back, not tearing her eyes away from the game. "Harry's seen the Snitch!"

It only took Karida a second to refocus her Omnioculars on the red and green blurs that were diving to the ground – because of the enchantments on them, the Omnioculars followed the play without Karida having to try; she slowed the picture down and saw Harry catch the Snitch - Malfoy scratched Harry's hand desperately, and his face was horrified.

The Gryffindor crowd roared and screamed, but Karida and Hermione were bent over laughing – Omnioculars were wonderful. They replayed the hysterical look on Malfoy's face continually, not able to get over the way he had scrabbled Harry's hand. It took the whole stadium to be in chaos before the pair detached themselves from the play and realized that one of Hermione's best friends was splayed unnaturally on the ground.

"What happened?" Hermione said frantically, recovering her binoculars to watch the pandemonium on the pitch.

"Crabbe hit a Bludger at Harry!" Neville supplied.

"Yeah, after the whistle!" Dean said angrily. "Quidditch needs red cards, they're really effective in –"

But what "red cards" were effective in Karida did not find out, as the crowd erupted in tumultuous booing and drowned out any indication of Dean speaking.

"Something's going on down by Harry," Hermione said, scanning the pitch. "He's gotten up, but I can't zoom in close enough to see who else is there! Can you see?" Hermione asked, putting down her binoculars disappointedly.

Hermione pulled a face.

"Malfoy's yelling something at Harry; he's such a sore loser…" Karida groaned, turning to look at Hermione. "One time I beat him at Wizard's Chess, he wouldn't speak to me for a week –"

Hermione laughed quickly but looked desperate, so Karida refocused. "Harry looks awfully angry – I wonder what he's saying? – and it looks like George and… Merlin's beard!" She exclaimed as the Chasers and Harry had to restrain the twins from strangling Malfoy. Hermione could finally see this through her binoculars, and was whispering "Oh no, oh no no no…"

Malfoy laughed maliciously and said one last inaudible thing.

In a flash of upturned grass and mud, Harry and George were on top of Malfoy, attempting to pummel the daylights out of him. Though Karida had definitely wanted to be the one inflicting the punch George gave Malfoy, she whimpered with Hermione, knowing that there'd be an absolutely dreadful punishment waiting for him and Harry.

A blast from Madam Hooch's wand shot the three boys apart, and though she had just been yelling at Crabbe, she was going purple as she reared on Harry and George. The pair turned and stormed off the pitch, evidently going to someone's office to receive castigation. The Omnioculars showed the mutinous faces both the boys were wearing, and how the back of George's neck was starting to be indistinguishable from the Quidditch uniform he was wearing.

As soon as the pair disappeared under the stadium, Karida looked back to Fred, who was yelling at Gryffindor's three Chasers, evidently livid that he wasn't able to brawl Malfoy as well.

The crowd was riotous, never having seen such a show after a match. Everyone stayed put, possibly hoping another fight would break out, until both teams had retreated into their respective locker rooms. The stands emptied; Karida and Hermione exchanged few words as they exited with everyone else.

With a wave, Karida left Hermione to jog to the cackling Slytherin majority of the crowd, hoping to look like she had been with them the entire time.

Pansy and Daphne must have forgotten their vow of silence toward each other; both sprinted past Karida with pained expressions to wait outside the Slytherin's locker door.

Karida pulled a face. No wonder Malfoy was so horrid. If she'd had to deal with these girls doting on her, she'd probably want to insult everyone too.

* * *

><p><strong>It feels SO long since I've posted last... Sorry :I<br>Thanks again for reading and reviewing! I love you guys ^_^  
>I'll try to get the next chapter faster.<strong>

**I hate the format uses, it makes it hard for me to read at least - If you want, I can email you the word doc I have it saved on :)**

**I'm about halfway through OotP as the timeline goes, and Fred and George leave about 3/4 of the way through. I'm not sure what I'm doing after that :I Hope you're still enjoying!**


	9. Pins and Needles

**Chapter IX**

_**Pins and Needles**_

By late November, the grounds of Hogwarts had been covered in a thin blanket of snow, which, for the most frequently used outdoor passageways, instantly turned to slush. Karida put a charm on her boots to make them temporarily waterproof so she could take a walk around the Black Lake in peace. She found the half-frozen surface of the Lake to be quite beautiful, and looked forward to it every year.

The first time she did this this year, she wanted to be alone. But she thought brightly at the prospect of bringing Hermione next weekend.

Even though she had a lot of solitary think-time nowadays, Karida enjoyed the time alone. She liked being silent, and not having to worry about what to say next in awkward pauses. Thus far she and Hermione had always had something else to do if the conversation broke, but the partially deserted grounds would give no distractions.

Karida walked out of the castle with her heaviest cloak drawn tightly around her. When she got into the Entrance Hall, she heard the noises of a snowball fight. She got her wand out, just in case one of the rowdy third-years decided it would be funny to chuck a ball of ice at an innocent passerby.

But when she craned her neck to see the cause of the noise ahead, there were no younger students. Actually, quite the contrary. Two – seventh-years, by the looks of them – were bewitching snowballs to fly straight up and hit a tower window. Karida paused to watch as the window opened. The oncoming snowballs flew into the castle happily, and the pane slammed shut again. It was only when she heard the whoops of laughter from the two boys that Karida knew who they were. She grinned and made to walk past them quietly as they continued pelting the tower.

The plan almost succeeded, too; Karida was almost stepping onto the wooden bridge when she was spotted. "Well, well, look at this, Fred! If it isn't our own little black sheep of the Slytherin House!" George Weasley called from not too far back.

Karida heard plodding footsteps in the slush and before she knew it, both of the twins had caught up to position themselves on either side of her. "What are _you_ up today?" Fred asked.

"More avoiding those charming peers of yours?" George smirked. "Sounds like some adventure."

"I'm sure it does…" Karida chuckled. "But unfortunately it usually entitles hours in the library, not fighting the giant squid." She continued walking, carefully controlling her intake and outtake of breath, knowing that the twins would be able to see the puffs from her mouth. Her blushing she could blame on the cold, but they were sure to notice if she was nervous around them.

"Oh, how I miss my fifth year…" George said nostalgically, wiping a tear from his eye.

"What glorious days –"

"Of wanting to strangle any given teacher!" The pair laughed. "It's alright though; it all pays off in the end, doesn't it?" George snickered.

"Naturally!" Fred grinned. "From all those _tedious_ hours we put in, six combined O.W.L.s was a wonderful dividend!"

This did not exactly help de-stress Karida, but she laughed despite herself. "Well, I think I just _might_ be spending more time studying than you two did…" Karida shrugged, "Even if it is to avoid Malfoy, he won't go near the library. But when _SOMEONE_ decides to dungbomb the place, one has less choice of where to study!" She clucked.

Fred and George feigned looking ashamed, nodding solemnly and saying "Sorry, Talon," in unison.

Karida thought her heart may explode at the pace it was going. Why were they talking to her? Hermione wasn't nearby, How did they know her name? Sure they pulled pranks in the library a lot, but it wasn't _that _often…

"But what about in your Common Room?" George asked, frowning. "Besides the fact that is filled with terrible people, what's wrong with it?"

Karida looked at him sideways. "Malfoy's there. With Pansy. And they will _not_ shut up or leave me alone." She sighed, her hands starting to get that prickly sensation you do when they get too cold, too fast.

George held a hand out to halt their progress across the bridge. "We have something that could help you with that," he said with the shadow of a smile playing across his face. "If you have good aim."

Karida beamed, and it was all she could do to suppress an overly girlish giggle and remain as casual as the twins. "And what might that be?" She lowered her voice.

George took Fred only a few paces away, and they put their heads together and dug through their pockets. "What do you think would be the best fit?" He asked.

"Definitely our top seller." Fred supplied, turning back to Karida. "We've finally perfected out Puking Pastilles," he said in a business-like tone.

Karida had heard about these from Hermione, of course, but looked inquisitive.

"You may run the risk of soiling all your work," George said, fishing through his pockets and digging out pieces of lint in the process, "but I think the results would be wondrous."

Fred found what they were looking for first and they all huddled in a small circle. "Just take the orange side of this when he's bothering you," he produced a purple and orange candy with a flourish, "and after he's gone, take the purple end to make you… Stop." He winked.

Karida took the candy and inspected it. "Sounds perfect," she said, chortling. Remembering how Hermione had said they were selling their gags to Gryffindors, she carefully put the candy in one of her pockets, and sought to find a few sickles in the other.

When George realized what she was doing, he held out a hand. "No payment is required." He shook his head. When Karida looked like she was about to protest, he added, "nor will it be accepted. Except," he leaned even closer to whisper in Karida's ear. "You must find us to describe the results." He leaned back again, and motioned for Fred. They walked away backward, and George winked before they turned around, sniggering wildly.

They had gotten a few more feet away before Karida yelled after them. "Hey, George!" He turned around, eyebrows raised. "Nice right hook!" She shouted, hitting her own fist into her palm. "Malfoy's been crying about it for_ days_."

George exchanged a glance with Fred, then called back. "I'd bloody hope so! It got us both banned from Quidditch, it's good to know that it was worth it!"

Deciding that it was her turn, Karida winked back at George before continued on her walk with numb feet. She'd miscalculated the strength of the waterproofing charm, but she hardly noticed. Even when she got hit by a stray snowball from a game going on near the Stone Circle, she couldn't stop beaming like an idiot.

* * *

><p><strong>I REALIZE THIS IS SHORT! AND THAT I'VE MADE YOU WAIT ANOTHER MONTH! D:<br>But I have decided that my chapters are going to be shorter now. I have less patience for longer chapters, myself...  
>AND, if I had made this normal-length, it would have taken more planning and thus, more time.<br>Should I keep them short? They won't take as long as this one did. **

**So sorry for the wait! :(  
>Please review! Like, every chapter. I don't know why you wouldn't, because it makes me feel wonderful. ^_^ <strong>

**Like I said on the last chapter, I don't like the format this website uses. It makes it all messed up.  
>So, if you would care for the original Word doc I have, PM me and I'd be glad to send it to you :3<strong>

**Thanks for reading! 3 You're awesome!**


	10. Maimed

**Chapter X**

**_Maimed_**

Karida came back into the castle from her walk just in time for dinner. She decided she would like a good meal, and didn't really care that she'd have to sit by Malfoy's posse to get it. It meant not walking as far, and for her stiff joints, it was a good thing.

As soon as she sat down, Malfoy started whining. "Oh, great!" He drawled. "That great brute is back," he sneered in the direction of the Staff table. Karida followed his gaze, and instantly noticed Professor Hagrid's massive figure at the front. "Ugh, but what's happened to him? Gone to find another dragon egg?" Malfoy laughed maliciously at the sight of Hagrid's many cuts and bruises.

Karida tried not to look at Professor Hagrid for too long, the effect was starting to make her stomach churn a bit.

"Damn, I wrote to Father at the start of the year to tell him the half-breed had finally been replaced with a contempt teacher!" Malfoy's lip curled. "He'll hear about this. He won't be happy." He said, poking his once-slashed-open arm.

Pansy picked up on this and closed the gap between them instantly, to coo over him and pet his healed arm. Daphne sat across the table, looking mutinous.

So, that's who won _that_ fight.

The next Tuesday, the Slytherins and Gryffindors had their Care of Magical Creatures class with its real teacher for the first time of the year. Karida made sure to strengthen her Waterproofing charm as they set out in the snow, heavily bundled. She was worried that Umbridge might show up to interrogate Professor Hagrid, and worried even more that Hagrid would come back to his teaching career with a bang – namely some dangerous creature.

Hopping in the footprints already made by everyone else, Karida made it to the clearing next to Hagrid's hut. She set down her pack in the gathering spot and avoided looking in Professor Hagrid's face. His cuts only seemed to have gotten worse, and that bruise on his forehead hadn't been there before, had it? Half of a dead cow was draped unceremoniously over his shoulder, and Karida cringed at the sight of it.

"We're workin' in here today!" Professor Hagrid called when most of his students had arrived, jerking his head toward the canopy of trees leading into the Forbidden Forest. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark…"

Malfoy's voice rang out through the apprehensive silence of the crowd. "What prefers the dark?" He asked, flustered. "What did he say prefers the dark – did you hear?" Pansy inched toward him and started petting his arm.

Karida had to stand by the group of Slytherins, but she made eye contact with Hermione at Malfoy's panic. They both rolled their eyes. Covering her mouth, Karida started giggling.

"What?" Malfoy demanded, his voice cracking. He'd noticed.

"Oh, nothing," Karida shook her head, badly concealing her grin.

Professor Hagrid hadn't seen. "Ready?" He scanned the class brightly. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat."

Karida got nervous goosebumps.

"Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em –"

"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" Malfoy sneered, his confident mask disappearing. "Only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"

Karida avoided Hermione's eyes at this, she knew Malfoy was right. Those blast-ended skrewts the last year were not fun to care for.

"'Course they're trained," Hagrid grunted.

"So what happened to your face, then?" Malfoy sneered, diverting attention from how scared he was to Hagrid's odd state.

"Mind yer own business!" said Hagrid heatedly. "Now if yeh've finished asking stupid questions, follow me!" He turned slowly, so the cow wouldn't fly off his shoulders perhaps, and marched into the forest. The rest of the class looked hesitant to follow, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione led the way, and the class slowly trickled in.

The snow began thinning as they walked farther on the path, until they were only walking on a mushy bed of leaves. The tree branches cast zigzagged shadows over the underbrush, until there were too many overlapping each other and everyone was shrouded in eerie darkness. After about ten minutes of walking, Hagrid stopped and deposited the cow on the ground. The class fanned out as much as they could to get a good view. This was difficult though, as the trees stood so close together and it was difficult to stand in so much in pairs without your sight being cut off by a tree or bush.

"Gather roun', gather roun'," Hagrid said reassuringly, probably noticing that some students were drawing back a bit. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat, but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me…" With that, he turned his back on the class to face the trees, shook out his great mane of hair, and gave a weird sort of screeching cry. The class stayed silent.

Nothing happened, and everyone in the class shifted their weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. They weren't exactly happy to not know what might be appearing at any moment. Malfoy looked pale, but it could have easily been because of the dim lighting.

Hagrid made the call again with not so much as a reply back from whatever creature he was trying to contact or a rustle of the bushes. As he was preparing for a third cry, however, he relaxed his shoulders.

The creature's blank white eyes shone eerily through the dark as it stepped out of the shadows. The rest of its gaunt body followed, revealing its two skeletal wings. The thestral observed the class for a few seconds before starting to dine on the lovely dead cow.

Karida smiled at the thestral, he was really quite beautiful. Most of the class hadn't noticed the animal tearing off chunks of its late lunch, however, and was still staring at the forest around themselves. Karida surveyed everyone in the class, and the only three people who seemed to have noticed the thestral were Potter, Longbottom, and Nott.

Hagrid welcomed a second thestral into their presence, and it set to work on the meat as well. "Now… Put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"

Karida tepidly raised her hand and sniffed.

When she was little, Karida never really understood all the conversations she overheard. As she grew up though, they began making more and more sense. In her third year she demanded straight answers from her father about their family's past, and he could do nothing but oblige.

Dmitri Lestrange had been Death Eater sympathetic before You-Know-Who's Fall. He never really was a Death Eater himself, but he had gone to some of their meetings and never talked his brothers out of joining. He supported their decisions.

"Until you were born," her father had said gravely. "It made me more responsible."

Directly after You-Know-Who's fall, his brothers, Rabastan and Rodolphus, and Rodolphus' wife, Bellatrix, arrived at their house. They tried to convince Karida's father to go with them to entice the Dark Lord's whereabouts out of a couple from the Order of the Phoenix. He refused. They were furious.

Her father always detracted who they were going to torment when he told the story.

Karida had been safe in her nursery at the time. Her mum was reading her nursery rhymes to be put to sleep, until she heard the commotion downstairs. She tucked Karida into her crib and rushed down the elegant staircase to see a vexed Bellatrix Lestrange. She tried to talk reason into the intruders, but Bellatrix lost it.

Karida's own aunt cast the spell that would leave her mother incapacitated for the rest of her life.

Afterwards the trio left, saying that they'd be able to find someone else to take Dmitri's place.

"I couldn't have taken her to St. Mungo's," her father would say indignantly. "I didn't have a good reputation with most of the Wizarding community at the time. Showing up there while people were celebrating would be bad. Very bad." He'd then pause the story for a few minutes and sit in silence.

When Karida was old enough, she understood that taking Mum to St. Mungo's at that time would have been impossible. But when the dust cleared from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's departure, it was evident that it was too late to take action.

From then on, Karida's mother would always be how she remembered her– Too weak to get out of bed, not able to speak much, and prone to dangerous stress-induced headaches. As a child, Karida wasn't allowed to see her often, for risk of upsetting her.

Her father still had to work, so he hired nannies to take care of his daughter every day. He didn't get to spend much time with her himself.

Even though the Lestranges were instantly arrested and taken into Azkaban, word got out to other Death Eaters that Dmitri Lestrange had betrayed his brothers' wishes. They were angry with him, even though he was living in exile just like the rest of the Dark Lord's supporters.

They accused him of not being loyal. "I was never truly loyal in the first place," her father would say, pushing his hair back. "I never claimed to be under the Imperius Curse. I never publicly denounced my beliefs, although my actions seemed to speak for themselves."

Tensions between Dmitri and the pureblood community augmented so much that they were bound to shatter at some point.

The rest Karida could take from her own memory, punctured though it was. She was six years old when late one night, there was a resolute knock on the door.

The visitor didn't wait for a response, but forced open the antique door and started up the stairs. Karida was petrified. Dare she get out of bed to see who this intruder was? She sat up in bed and listened intently for the sound of their footsteps, quivering when they drew near her room. She deliberately remembered thinking how the man – by the sound of their footfalls – wasn't even _trying_ to be quiet.

The man walked farther down the hall, and opened a door. Karida whimpered when she realized it must be her mother's room, and no one was allowed in there! But dad wasn't coming… What if he had locked himself in his study and hadn't heard anything? Mum could be in trouble!

With that thought, Karida shoved her blankets off her bed and placed her toes softly on the ground. She'd never been up this late before, and she couldn't help yawning. She pushed her door open just far enough to slip through, then tip-toed down the few feet in the hall.

Mum's door was ajar. When she first walked by, she saw her mother propped up on pillows, weeping, her entire body wracking with sobs. The scary man wore a dark cloak, and was standing alone in front of her mum. His voice was too deep and quiet for Karida to hear fully, and he was using big words that she didn't understand. She recognized later that even if she had understood the conversation, she probably would have forgotten it a moment later. That's not what she was worried about.

Karida waited next to the doorway, flattened against the wall, breathing shallowly. The man was going to hurt Mum, give her one of her headaches, and Father wasn't there to help! She couldn't figure out what to do – should she find her dad? What if he wasn't in the house? What if the man heard her? What if - ?

A door down the hall creaked, and Karida had to stop herself from jumping. But only her dad emerged, and she instantly relaxed. Once Dmitri noticed his daughter was eavesdropping and out of bed, he put a finger to his lips and gave her a gentle scolding look. Karida knew she couldn't dart back to her room safely now, the strange man might see her retreating. Her dad could see into the room through the doorway, and as soon as the man was facing the opposite direction he motioned desperately for Karida to run to her room.

Karida didn't dare refuse, and she scampered back to her room back down the hall.

As soon as she had climbed back into bed, Karida's father's voice rang through the house. He first calmly asked the man to leave, saying he was distressing his wife. The man must have refused, as her father had to command him, saying he had no right to be in his house at this hour. Karida hunched in her bed at this. Father was scary when he was angry.

The man's heavy footsteps once again beat through the hall. The front door slammed, and he was gone.

Instead of a resounding silence after the intruder's departure, Karida heard her mum wailing a few times before going quiet. She sat up in the dark, eyes wide, lips parted. Light streamed into the room as her dad turned on the hall lights and pushed her door open. He stood in the doorway for only an instant before Karida was back on her feet, and they rushed back into her mother's room together.

She looked the worst Karida had ever seen her. It wasn't a sight six-year-olds should have to see. Her face was white as a sheet, and she didn't so much as blink as her husband removed pillows from under her so she was laying down instead of sitting upright. She closed her eyes slowly, and reopened them with what seemed like massive effort. She turned her head to the side painfully slow, and she made eye contact with Karida, who rushed to her bedside immediately.

"Mummy?" Karida had whimpered helplessly. "Daddy, what's going on?"

Her father shook his head, more solemn that usual, and sat on the other side of the bed to caress his wife's face. He picked up her hand delicately, as if it were made of brittle glass, and kissed it.

Karida leaned farther onto the bed, starting to cry. She was so confused. Her mother lifted a hand to brush through her only daughter's hair, and Karida's head was so close that she kissed it.

"Daddy?" Karida had begged again, breaking away from her mother.

She had never seen her father cry. _Never_. And she never did again. But in that moment, a single tear slid gently down his face.

Her mum's eyes flicked back and forth between her family, trying to absorb as much of them as possible. Her lips moved without any sound coming out before she whispered, so softly that Karida could only hear because the room was quiet, "I love you."

Her eyes fluttered shut. And she didn't move again.

This all flashed before Karida's eyes before she was snapped to reality by that terrible noise.

"_Hem, hem._"

"Oh hello!" Hagrid boomed kindly at the horrid woman in her green hat.

"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" Umbridge said very slowly and loudly, as if she were speaking with a toddler.

"Oh yeah," Hagrid replied. "Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you can see – or, I dunno – can you? We're doin' thestrals today – "

"I'm sorry?" Umbridge said loudly, cupping her stubby, ringed hand around her ear. "What did you say?"

"Er – _thestrals_!" He replied loudly, baffled. "Big – er – winged horses, yeh know!" He flapped his great arms up and down.

Umbridge looked sickly with pleasure. She made a tick mark on her clipboard, which Karida could hear distinctly, since the woman was standing not that far away from her. She started scribbling feverishly, muttering as she was writing, quite loudly: "'_has… to… resort…to…crude…sign…language…"_

Karida went from very sad to very angry, very fast. Malfoy was grinning maliciously, which instantly made her unhappy. And across the path, Hermione looked as if she were going to burst at the seams with fury.

Though Karida wouldn't hesitate in saying she preferred Professor Grubbly-Plank over Professor Hagrid, she was livid. No one deserved to be treated that way.

As Umbridge once again went around asking questions, Karida avoided her eyes, trying to look absolutely fascinated by the thestrals so she'd skip her, like she knew she would.

After Umbridge tried to question Longbottom and saying Hagrid intimidated him too much to answer properly – (Poor boy, what else was he supposed to say? Though Karida enjoyed the look of the thestrals, they were still rather daunting.) – She jabbed her ten stubby fingers in Hagrid's face to inform him of the date he would be receiving the results of his inspection, and shuffled back toward the castle.

Hagrid continued the lesson awkwardly. Karida didn't really listen too intently, as she became re-overwhelmed with her memories. It was odd for her to be thinking of it now, as she usually was able to find solace in her mother's passing. The lesson finished about ten minutes early, but Hagrid insisted that it was over and that they all needed to get back to the castle.

As the students started trickling back toward the light, Karida couldn't choose whether to speed ahead of the group of Slytherins or to lag behind them, so she could hide the tears forming in her eyes.

She decided to go with the latter; it was less suspicious, and Malfoy seemed keen to get out of the Forest as quickly as possible anyways.

As everyone left, Karida just stood still, staring at the thestrals.

Hagrid eventually noticed her still standing there, and he might have seen that her eyes were puffy. "They're not goin' teh hur' yeh, really…" He said carefully.

Karida's eyes widened. She had never spoken to Professor Hagrid before. "I – I know." She said shakily, finding her throat had gone all scratchy. She sniffed. "I've been able to see them since second year… Was really – " she hiccupped " – interested in them, after I got over the shock, of course. Read all about them." She said, giving a small, sad smile to Hagrid. "I think they're lovely." She said, carefully observing them, but her voice shook.

Hagrid nodded knowingly, and seemed to smile under his tangle of a beard. "Well, tha's somethin'." Hagrid appraised her. "Best be headed off now, yeh don' want it to get dark 'fore yeh get inside the castle."

Karida nodded and smiled gloomily again. She turned away before wiping her eyes, and started winding her way back through the path.

Some memories were better left untouched.

* * *

><p><strong>AHHHHHH YEAHHHHHH FINISHED THIS CHAPTER IN RECORD SPEED.<br>****I felt you guys deserved it after I keep making you wait so long.**

**If you review any chapter, PLEASE PLEASE review this one. I really need input.**

**How was the flashback? Were the transitions okay? It was really awkward to write. I really need to know.  
>If you're ghost-reading this, you're not helping me. Please review, even if it's short, I don't care. <strong>


	11. AN Temporary Hiatus

**A/N**

**_I'm really sorry, but Black Sheep's gonna have to be on temporary hiatus for awhile. ._._**

I have bullets for the next chapter, but I haven't so much as touched it for the past month or two and I just haven't been inspired! D:

One of the problems I think I'm having is that I've developed an OTP. GeorgeXKatie Bell. Gatie is my only existing Harry Potter OTP, and so this OCXGeorge thing (AS MUCH AS I LOVE KARIDA AND WANT THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO FLOURISH) is conflicting with my OTP feels. .

I can't say I've been busy, that'd be a lie. I've been doing other crap. ._. I RP as Katie now, and honestly it has thrown off my writing style a bit. I need to practice writing in novel format (I do paragraph RPs, not that *smiles* *hugs* stuff, so it is messing it up a lot) more.

I just got inspired to write a new fanfic of the KPOP genre, so if anyone is at all interested in reading that when I get it going, let me know.

I'm really, really sorry for all of those who had been following and actually really enjoying it, I know that feel.

But I have at least three friends at school that will be on my back constantly if I never get back to writing this, so I'll try my best to get re-inspired!

Thank you so much for your support thus far and I hope you'll stick with me ^_^

~ Katie


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